Protein Blocks Neural Stem Cell Creation
Posted on: Thursday, 11 October 2007, 15:00 CDT
A U.S. study determined a protein that represses gene transcription also blocks embryonic neural stem cells from differentiating into neurons.
University of California-San Diego and Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers focused on a repressor protein called SMRT that previously has been shown to repress gene expression in a number of molecular pathways.
By creating a strain of knock-out mice missing the SMRT gene, the team said it was able to pinpoint significant alterations in brain development in the absence of SMRT.
The researchers said their findings demonstrated the important role of the protein in preventing premature differentiation of specific brain cells from undifferentiated neural stem cells in utero.
By showing SMRT prevents differentiation by maintaining neural stem cells in a basic stem cell state, we now have a target to study further how stem cells restrict themselves from differentiating, said first author Kristen Jepsen of the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine.
The study is reported in the online issue of the journal Nature.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- Stanford Study Shows Neural Stem Cells In Mice Affected By Gene Associated With Longevity
- Eliminating Cell Receptor Prevents Infections in Animal Study
- Banyan Biomarkers Announces U.S. Patent for Neural Proteins As Biomarkers for Traumatic Brain Injury
- Stem Cells from Brains Help Rats Walk: Study
- Stem Cells from Brains Help Rats Walk, Study Says
- Expression of CD68 and Macrophage Chemoattractant Protein-1 Genes in Human Adipose and Muscle Tissues: Association With Cytokine Expression, Insulin Resistance, and Reduction By Pioglitazone
- Rutgers Takes Lead in Protein Research; Study of Cell Workings Could Spur New Drugs
- Effects of Pax8 and TTF-1 Thyroid Transcription Factor Gene Transfer in Hepatoma Cells: Imaging of Functional Protein-Protein Interaction and Iodide Uptake
- University of Pittsburgh; A cell-mediated approach to sFlt-1 gene therapy targets thyroid cancer
- Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma; A cell-mediated approach to sFlt-1 gene therapy targets thyroid cancer
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds