Adult Stem Cells Act as “Supervisors”

Adult Stem Cells Act as “Supervisors”

A new study from the University of Virginia says that adult stem cells in hearts direct other cells to repair tissue damage, rather than doing the work themselves. According to the press release, the research team leader said, “It’s a shift from a building role to a signaling role, orchestrating the repair and growth of damaged tissue.” He suggested that drugs might have to take a different approach and harness the body’s own methods of repair instead of trying to isolate one single factor.

This seems to raise again one of the questions about how stem cells work in healing; it has been suggested that some of their effectiveness may come about from releasing chemicals that help stimulate the growth of other cells or that have an anti-inflammatory effect, which clears the way for the body to more effectively heal with non stem cells. Obviously this is a complicated mechanism and we have a lot more to learn.