Lavasani M, Robinson AR, Lu A, Song M, Feduska JM, Ahani B, Tilstra JS, Feldman CH, Robbins PD, Niedernhofer LJ, Huard J. Muscle-derived stem/progenitor cell dysfunction limits healthspan and lifespan in a murine progeria model. Nat Commun. 2012;3:608. PubMed.
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Third Rock Ventures
The data presented by Huard and colleagues are complementary to the report by Villeda et al. in that they’re studying the effects of young cells in progeria, while Wyss-Coray's team studied effects of young blood plasma in healthy aging.
I am not sure how these cell transplants could affect brain vasculature via soluble factors in regions shielded by the blood-brain barrier (such as the cortex). Measurements of vascular density in brain are notoriously difficult and need really to be done by stereology. Also, some functional readout correlating with more vessels would be informative.
Potential therapeutic application would depend on having the ability to obtain young histocompatible cells (or the equivalent such as isogenic induced pluripotent stem cells) and show that they’d ameliorate the outcomes of aging or age-related neurodegeneration.
References:
Villeda SA, Luo J, Mosher KI, Zou B, Britschgi M, Bieri G, Stan TM, Fainberg N, Ding Z, Eggel A, Lucin KM, Czirr E, Park JS, Couillard-Després S, Aigner L, Li G, Peskind ER, Kaye JA, Quinn JF, Galasko DR, Xie XS, Rando TA, Wyss-Coray T. The ageing systemic milieu negatively regulates neurogenesis and cognitive function. Nature. 2011 Sep 1;477(7362):90-4. PubMed.
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