Organs can have multiple stem cell types

SALT LAKE CITY, June 9 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist says an organ can contain more than one type of adult stem cell, complicating prospects for using the cells to treat disease.

The discovery was made by Nobel Prize winner Professor Mario Capecchi at the University of Utah. He and geneticist Dr. Eugenio Sangiorgi said when they used a gene named Bmi1 to mark the presence of adult stem cells in the intestines of mice they were surprised to find the specific cells mostly in the upper third of the mouse intestine.

That, the scientists said, indicates at least one or two other types of adult stem cells must exist to maintain and repair the middle and lower thirds of the mouse's intestines.

The discovery "is important because people are talking about stem cell therapy; they want to stick in stem cells to treat disease," says Capecchi, a winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The research is reported online in the journal Nature Genetics.