Cells in stomach naturally revert to stem cells

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Article Date: 14 Oct 2013 – 0:00 PDT

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Chief cells normally produce digestive fluids for the stomach. Mills studies their transformation into stem cells for injury repair. He also is investigating the possibility that the potential for growth unleashed by this change may contribute to stomach cancers.

This research was supported by funding from the Centre for Biomedical Genetics, the European Research Council (EU-232814-StemCellMark, EU/Health-F4-2007-200720, DK09489, and 2P30 DK052574), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF2011-357-C00093), the Wellcome Trust (097922/C/11/Z), EU Marie Curie Fellowships (EU/236954-ICSC-Lgr5, and EU/300-686-InfO), and TI PHarma (T3-106).

Mills’ other goals include learning if the chief cells’ transformations are triggered by signals sent by injured tissue, by damage sensors on the chief cells or by some combination of these methods.

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Washington University School of Medicine

“We already knew that these cells, which are called chief cells, can change back into stem cells to make temporary repairs in significant stomach injuries, such as a cut or damage from infection,” said Jason Mills, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at Washington University. “The fact that they’re making this transition more often, even in the absence of noticeable injuries, suggests that it may be easier than we realized to make some types of mature, specialized adult cells revert to stem cells.”


Differentiated Troy+ Chief Cells Act as Reserve Stem Cells to Generate All Lineages of the Stomach Epithelium

If a significant injury is introduced in cell cultures or in animal models, more chief cells become stem cells, making it possible to fix the damage.

Stem cells can make multiple kinds of specialized cells, and scientists have been working for years to use that ability to repair injuries throughout the body. But causing specialized adult cells to revert to stem cells and work on repairs has been challenging.

stem cell research section for the latest news on this subject.

In the new report, Mills, graduate student Greg Sibbel and Hans Clevers, MD, PhD, a geneticist at Utrecht Medical Center, identify markers that show a small number of chief cells become stem cells even in the absence of serious injury.

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“Chief cells normally are big factories with elaborate networks of tubing and secretory mechanisms for making and secreting digestive juices,” said Mills, the associate director of Washington University’s Digestive Diseases Center. “That all has to be dismantled and recycled so the chief cell can become a stem cell. It’s a remarkable change.”


Stange DE, Koo BK, Huch M, Sibbel G, Basak O, Lyubimova A, Kujala P, Bartfeldt S, Koster J, Geahlen JH, Peters PJ, van Ese JH, van de Wetering M, Mills JC, Clevers H. Differentiated Troy + chief cells act as ‘reserve’ stem cells to generate all lineages of the stomach epithelium. Cell, Volume 155, Issue 2, 357-368, 10 October 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.09.008

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Scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Utrecht Medical Center in the Netherlands report in the new study that a class of specialized cells in the stomach reverts to stem cells more often than they thought.


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The findings are published in Cell.

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Cells in stomach naturally revert to stem cells

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New research has shown that the stomach naturally produces more stem cells than previously realized, likely for repair of injuries from infections, digestive fluids and the foods we eat.


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