The primary aim of Price's investigation involves inducing adult stem cells to differentiate in predictable ways by exposing them to chemical signals controlled by the researchers. Determining exactly which signals regulate stem cell proliferation and differentiation has long been a problem for researchers, especially those working with embryonic cells.

During the in vivo development of an embryo, Price explains, "the uterus provides all the biochemical signals required for the really complicated process by which a ball of cells turns into a human: into our skin, bones, eyes, ears, digestive tract, et cetera. But if you take one of these embryonic stem cells, these very, very powerful cells and implant it in a [lab rodent's] brain, sometimes it just goes crazy and you get tumors that have bone, hair, connective tissue ...it's almost as if the cell is telling you, 'I have no idea what to become.'"

Price says working with adult cells has helped to simplify things. "We've shown that if you can isolate adult stem cells, you can make them generate the appropriate type of cell with much more ease and specificity. One day, we may be able to isolate similar adult stem cells from a patient, manipulate the cells in a petri dish, and then reintroduce them back into that same patient as a therapy."

Price cautions that there is much work to be done before that day arrives. The next step, he says, is to determine whether his methods can produce a sufficient number of adult stem cells to pursue therapies, and whether such cells can be isolated from human patients.

"Most scientists who work on these are trying to pre-differentiate them in a dish before they're transplanted," he says. "The goal is to get the stem cell to commit to, say, a neuron that won't turn into unwanted cell types or a tumor."

So far, he adds, there's been much progress. Price and his team at Dalton have been able to locate and grow human adult stem cells for more than a year, creating large numbers of nerve and blood vessel cell precursors. Among other cells Price has identified is one that he recently described as a "very rare type" of stem cell from the blood. From just one or two of these original cells Price was able to develop a line containing some 100 million cells.

"They looked completely different from any other adult stem-cell line ever described in the literature," Price told the Kansas City Star in a front-page story describing his work.

"We think that these blood-derived adult stem cells are normally used by the body for regeneration and we have been able to isolate these cells, grow them in a lab, and direct them toward a specific cell type for eventual therapeutic use," Price says.

"I'm not going to tell you that these cells are going to eliminate the need for a walker for those with spinal cord injuries, or that they will end the need for medications to control Parkinson's. But I will tell you this: I am certain they will one day go a long way toward reducing human pain and suffering."

Published by the Office of Research.

©2006 Curators of the University of Missouri. Click here to contact the editor.