Drugs could help fix broken bones
Updated on 08 January 2009
Drugs could in future be used to trick the body into repairing itself with bone marrow stem cells, a study suggests.
British scientists believe the technique could one day be used to mend damaged hearts or fix broken bones.
The research shows that it may be possible to make the bone marrow "scramble" specific kinds of stem cells to trouble spots.
Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into different types of tissue.
A number of stem cell varieties are produced in the bone marrow. One type, haematopoietic cells, develop into blood cells. Mobilisation of these cells is already boosted artificially by doctors carrying out bone marrow transplants.
But the new research, carried out on mice, shows that production of other kinds of stem cell can be stepped up too. They include mesenchymal stem cells, which make cartilage and bone, and endothelial progenitor cells, which build blood vessels.
Different therapies were used to obtain the different stem cells.
Mice exposed to a "growth factor" protein called VEGF plus the drug mozobil generated 100 times more endothelial and mesenchymal stem cells as they did without the treatment. Treating mice with another growth factor called G-CSF, plus mozobil, mobilised haematopoietic stem cells.
The study, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, was funded by the British Heart Foundation and Wellcome Trust charities.
Ultimately the researchers hope the same approach will be used to treat heart disease and sports injuries.
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