COBRE:RW HOSP: P1: POTENTIAL OF SKIN STEM CELLS AND WOUND HEALING

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Recent findings that stem cells from a particular organ are capable of giving rise to mature tissues in other organs have changed our thinking about the role of stem cells in human disease and development. Bone marrow stem cells are among the most well characterized stem cells and they have been shown to be proficient in forming non-blood tissues. It is likely that bone marrow provides the cellular substrates for many organs and that bone marrow derived progenitors are recruited to areas of injury or wounds. There is evidence of this for the liver and heart. Understanding the dynamics of homing and recruitment of these bone marrow cells to the skin will be valuable in developing treatments for a variety of disorders. We have shown in preliminary studies that bone marrow cells can engraft into wounds and form skin structures. In a clinical study performed on human patients, we have evidence that bone marrow can accelerate healing and close chronic wounds that have failed to heal by other traditional and advanced treatments administered in specialized centers. The studies proposed will identify those bone marrow stem cells that home to skin and form skin structures. Purified bone marrow stem cells and whole bone marrow will be examined for their potential to engraft and reconstitute skin structures in wounded skin. The ability to utilize these adult stem cells may also allow us to avoid the use of unpredictable embryonic derived stem cells and may form the basis for all stem cell based treatments in the future.