Stem cell research sheds light on immune system functionality

US researchers have found a new type of cell that could represent a missing link between bone marrow stem cells and the remainder of the human immune system.

A team from University of California – Los Angeles has identified a lymphoid primed progenitor cell that is coded to produce all the cells of the immune system, before studying it using gene expression techniques.

It was found that the lymphoid-primed cell shares a set of genes and a unique gene expression with bone marrow stem cells, offering key insights into which genes are important in creating immune cells.

Using this data, scientists could manipulate bone marrow to create a strong immune system, while addressing the conditions of those affected by diseases in this area.

Dr Gay Crooks, co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine, said the team was "intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell, because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life".

The importance of stem cell research to global medicine was underlined last month by news that the UK's Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council are committing eight million pounds to develop a new stem cell biology and medicine centre in Cambridge.