AP News, January 15th, 2007
Cancer patients could be helped in the future as a result of research at the University of Kentucky that identified and mapped a gene in bone marrow, according to The Courier-Journal.
The research has been done only in mice, the newspaper reported Monday, quoting an online version of the journal Nature Genetics.
The more of a gene called latexin a mouse has in its bone marrow, the fewer beneficial stem cells there are in the marrow, the research determined. Lead researcher Gary Van Zant figures that if doctors can find ways to reduce latexin, they could prevent its effects, giving cancer patients more stem cells.
Doctors also might be able to look at latexin levels to determine who is a good bone marrow donor and who is not, according to the newspaper.
"This is the culmination of many years' work," said Van Zant, a professor of medicine in the division of hematology/oncology at UK, who collaborated with researchers in Cincinnati on the study. His research was funded with three grants from the National Institutes of Health totaling $700,000 a year for four years, Van Zant said.
Clinical trials in humans should begin about a year from now, with the public benefiting in five or more years, Van Zant said. In December 2005, University of Louisville researcher Dr. Mariusz Ratajczak announced that he had coaxed stem cells from adult mice to change into brain, heart, nerve and pancreatic cells, mimicking embryonic stem cells. Early last year, another research team at U-of-L's James Graham Brown Cancer Center published research on nasal stem cells in adults.
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Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
