Stem cells, the precursors to all differentiated cells, can now be modified to improve healing rates. Daniel Anderson at MIT engineered stem cells with a gene that promotes blood vessel growth. Because tissue repair requires a rich blood source for nutrients, it’s not enough simply to have stem cells that can repair certain types of tissue if they don’t have an adequate blood supply to grow.

The study involved mice that had damaged hind limbs. Injecting the mice with the modified stem cells caused 80% of the mice to heal (ie, maintain their limbs) compared to 40% in those mice who did not receive modified stem cells.

This sort of gene engineering with stem cells could very well revolutionize treatment for many types of tissue repair. Follow this link from MIT for more information about this study.

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