Newton001: Characterisation of Adult Stem Cells and the initiation of an Adult Stem Cell Bank

大多数成人组织含有称为间充质干细胞或周细胞的干细胞群，通常在毛细血管周围发现。这些干细胞可以产生许多不同类型的细胞，包括软骨和骨，可以用来修复体内受损或有缺陷的组织。在头部和颈部发现的周细胞，包括在牙齿内发现的周细胞，似乎与身体其他部位的周细胞不同，并且可能能够产生更广泛的不同组织，例如神经组织，这使得它们对开发针对各种疾病的新疗法感兴趣。因此，我们建议详细描述牙齿内的周细胞，在牙髓中，作为头部和颈部的例子，并将它们与身体其他部位的周细胞进行比较。脂肪是一种非常方便的周细胞来源，因为它含有大量的周细胞，经常通过手术切除。我们将研究在这两种周细胞中表达的基因的整体模式，以确定它们之间的确切差异，同时，我们将比较两种周细胞的能力，以产生一系列不同的细胞类型，这些细胞类型在临床中可能是有用的，例如，骨，软骨，肌肉，神经和色素细胞。如果这两种类型的周细胞确实表现出它们所能产生的组织类型的差异，我们将问我们是否可以根据我们在这些细胞中观察到的基因表达模式的差异来解释这些差异。这项研究的价值在于，全世界的科学家和临床医生都对创建这些周细胞库感兴趣，以便在任何合适的患者需要时都可以使用它们。从脂肪中获得的周细胞是储存在这种细胞库中非常方便的细胞来源，但如果牙髓中的周细胞能够制造更广泛的有用组织，那么我们显然应该将这些细胞包括在脂肪细胞之外。

Most adult tissues contain a population of stem cells called mesenchymal stem cells or pericytes, that are normally found surrounding capillaries. These stem cells can give rise to a number of different cell types, including cartilage and bone, that can be used to repair damaged or defective tissues in the body. The pericytes found in the head and neck, including those found within teeth, appear to be different to those of the rest of the body, and may be able to give rise to a wider range of different tissues, for example, nerve tissues, which makes them of interest in developing new treatments for a variety of diseases. We propose therefore to characterise in detail the pericytes found within teeth, in the dental pulp, as an example of those in the head and neck, and compare them with the pericytes found in other parts of the body. Fat is a very convenient source of pericytes since it contains a large number of these cells and is often removed surgically. We will look at the overall pattern of genes which are expressed in these two populations of pericytes, to determine what the exact differences between them might be, and in parallel, we will compare the ability of the two types of pericyte to give rise to a range of different cell types that could be useful in the clinic, for example, bone, cartilage, muscle, nerves and pigment cells. If the two types of pericyte do show differences in the types of tissues they can produce, we will ask whether we can explain these differences based on any differences we observe in the patterns of genes expressed in these cells. The value of this is that around the world, scientists and clinicians are interested in creating banks of these pericytes, so that they are available when needed by any suitable patient. The pericytes obtained from fat are a very convenient source of cells to store in such banks, but if the pericytes from dental pulp are able to make a wider range of useful tissues, then we should clearly be including these cells in the bank in addition to those from fat.