瑞典卡罗琳斯卡研究机构的研究人员发现一个重要的可以调控肠干细胞产生新细胞的机制。这项研究发表在著名的《细胞》杂志中。Jonas Frisén说：“这可能最终帮助我们开发出新药物去治疗神经紊乱和
贫血。”
在身体的许多器官中，老细胞持续的被新细胞代替。如果产生太多的新细胞，就会产生过度生长和导致
肿瘤的形成。如果太少的细胞，就会导致器官恶化。对产生的新细胞数目精确的定量是至关重要的。
许多严重的紊乱就是因为产生的新细胞数目减少，科学家正积极的开发可以刺激产生新细胞的药物，使得身体自愈。
已经取得共识，新细胞是由不成熟的细胞例如干细胞形成的，但是调节产生新细胞数目的机制仍然是个迷。在《细胞》杂志新发表的关于干细胞的研究中， Jonas Frisén成功的向我们展示了体内的干细胞如何产生新细胞的。Frisén教授和他的研究小组鉴别了一个调节干细胞分裂程度的信号转换过程。
Frisén教授说：“理解细胞是怎样调控而增加的可以帮助我们设计一种可以刺激体内产生新细胞的药物。”
他希望这项新发现能够用来开发药物，例如刺激形成新的神经细胞来治疗帕金森和皮肤细胞来促进伤口的愈合。Frisén教授以研究脑干细胞而闻名，目前的研究中，已经完成了肠内干细胞的研究，了解了体内的一个器官以最快的速度更新细胞的机制。
他说：“我们也注意到血，大脑和皮肤干细胞表达的一些基因，他们对肠内的干细胞很重要，这就告诉我们干细胞更新细胞的机制大致相同的。”
下一步研究中，Frisén教授和他的研究小组将要研究血干细胞和皮肤干细胞是如何分化成新细胞的。
孙隽译自：biologynews
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified an important mechanism that regulates how many new cells are produced by each intestinal stem cell. The study is published in the latest issue of the prestigious scientific journal, Cell. "This might eventually help us develop new drugs for things like neurological disorders and anaemia," says Professor Jonas Fris閚.
In most organs of the body, old cells are continually being replaced by new. If too many new cells are produced, however, it can lead to overgrowth and tumour formation. Too few cells, on the other hand, can result in organ degeneration. It is therefore crucial that exactly the right number of cells are produced.
As many serious disorders cause a reduction in the production of new cells, scientists are keen to develop drugs that stimulate the process, which in turn could help the body to cure itself.
It has long been known that the new cells are often formed by immature cells known as stem cells, but the mechanism regulating the number of new cells produced has remained something of a mystery. However, in a new study to be published by Cell stem-cell researcher Jonas Fris閚 has succeeded in showing how the body's own stem cells do just this. Working alongside an American group of researchers, Professor Fris閚 and his team have identified a signal transduction process that regulates the degree of stem-cell division.
"Understanding how cell production is regulated increases our chances of producing drugs able to stimulate the endogenous production of new cells," says Professor Fris閚.
He hopes that the new findings can be used to develop drugs that stimulate, for example, the formation of new nerve cells to treat conditions such as stroke and Parkinson's and skin cells to facilitate the healing of wounds. Professor Fris閚 is best known for his research on cerebral stem cells; the present study, however, has been carried out on stem cells in the intestine, one of the organs in the body with the highest rates of cell renewal.
"We also know that blood, brain and skin stem cells express the genes that we now know to be important in the intestine," he says. "This suggests that the cell production mechanism can be the same for these stem cells too."
The next step for Professor Fris閚 and his group is therefore to study how blood and skin stem cells go about producing new cells.
作者：