Copyright 2003 Western Mail and Echo Ltd
Western Mail
July 11, 2003, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 191 words

A TYPE of stem cell found in blood vessels could one day be used to regenerate wasting muscle, research suggests.

Scientists carried out experiments on mice with one form of muscular dystrophy (MD), a collection of incurable human diseases that cause muscles to waste away. They found that genetically modified blood vessel stem cells called "mesangioblasts" appeared able to help generate new muscle fibres in mice with MD.

Stem cells are "master" cells which can be stimulated to develop into different kinds of tissue. The Italian scientists envisage collecting mesangioblasts from a human patient's blood vessels, genetically altering them in the laboratory, and injecting them back into the bloodstream.

The cells would then migrate to the patient's muscles and begin producing healthy muscle cells. Because they originated from the patient's own body, they would not be rejected.

Details of the research appeared in the journal Science.

Giulio Cossu, from the Stem Cell Research Institute in Milan, who led the team, cautioned that much more work was needed before the technique could be attempted on humans.