Vol13-1-e47

9/24

9AIST TODAY 2013-1life-liaison-ml@aist.go.jpFor inquiries about this article : Research Planning Office of Life Science and BlotechnologyEstablishment of bone tissues by in-vitro cell manipulation using mesenchymal stem cells (confocal laser scanning microscope photos)(A) Image of confocal X–Z section obtained along the plane across one of the mineralized nodules. Confocal X–Y sectional views of mineralized matrix region (B, h=4.95 µm from the base) and outer surface region (C, h=19.8 µm from the base) of the nodule. (B) was taken as line 1 in (A), and (C) was taken as line 2. The mineralized matrix is indicated by green, the actin microfilaments by red, and the nuclei by blue. The round-shaped cells lay in the mineralized matrix (arrowheads).Courtesy T. Kihara et al.: Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 341 (4), 1029–35 (2006), with permission.1 2 C B A 100 µmWhen part of our body, such as a bone, a cardiac valve, a blood vessel, a cornea, or other tissues, is severely damaged, normal tissues are sometimes transplanted to repair the damage. Many tissues for transplanting are taken postmortem, as people may know from cases of organ transplants. This means that donors are necessary, and yet there is no denying the possibility that infectious diseases originating from such donors may occur. In fact, there are reports of recipients of organ transplants having died of serious infectious diseases. In addition, the tissues of such transplants are those of other people and can cause rejection unless immune suppressors are used.Considering these concerns, if the cells of patients themselves can be used to create the necessary tissues and the cells can be taken in a noninvasive manner, patients will not require donors and their treatment will be more gentle and safe. We have been working on the creation of various tissues with engineering techniques using mesenchymal stem cells present in our bone marrow for many years. We have proliferated mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow tissues and succeeded to show cellular differentiation of the stem cells into osteoblast cells and bone cells, which showed in-vitro three-dimensional mineralized bone tissues (figure). For a human being, the amount of bone marrow necessary to create these bone tissues is only a few milliliters. The bone marrow can be taken with minimal invasiveness, using a syringe, requiring no incision by a surgical knife. These in-vitro created bone tissues were transplanted to arthropathic patients at Nara Medical University Hospital. This transplant treatment had never before been attempted in the world and was unprecedented as clinical research. Safety thus had to be given the highest priority. In particular, the procedure of handling cells in vitro required conditions allowing the cells to stay alive as well as a sterile environment. Fortunately, as if in synchronicity with the progress of our stem cell research, a cell processing center (CPC) was constructed at AIST Kansai (see the article by Shunsuke Yuba, leader, Tissue Engineering Research Group, on page 12-13), which enabled us to handle the cells in a sterile environment. Since the establishment of this facility, mesenchymal stem cells have been proliferated and used for treatments of patients with various diseases. These treated cases have shown no complications such as infection or tumor incidence after transplantation, and excellent postoperative clinical results have been reported.A Trailblazer in Stem Cell Engineering Research– Fabrication of bone tissues from stem cells and transplanting them to patients –Invited Researcher, Health Research Institute and Director of Orthopedics, Ookuma HospitalHajime OHGUSHI

※このページを正しく表示するにはFlashPlayer9以上が必要です