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Adv cel sci tissue cul 2017 | Volume 1 Issue 2
Cell Science, Stem Cell Research &
Pharmacological Regenerative Medicine
November 29-30, 2017 | Atlanta, USA
Annual Congress on
W
e have documented a large population of quiescent
stem cells within peripheral nerves. In response to
nerve injury, or stimulation with the cytokine BMP2, these
cells proliferate and form pluripotent stem cells, expressing
Sox2, Klf4, Oct4 and c-Myc (verified by double stain
immunohistochemistry and by real time PCR). These are
the transcription factors that confer embryonic pluripotency
(Cell 126: 663, 2006). We call these cells Nerve Derived
Pluripotent Stem cells, or NEDAPS cells. The cells propagate
restrictivemedia and are readily induced to formtissues from
all 3 germ layers. We hypothesize they represent the central
feature in an important and previously unknown universal
pathway for tissue repair. Nerves are nearly ubiquitous in
the body. Thus, we believe that nerve injury accompanies
virtually any injury and the consequent proliferation of these
stem cells occurs locally following essentially any injury
representing a previously unknown universal pathway for
healing. Data will document induction and successful culture
of these unique new pluripotent cells from three mammalian
species and demonstrate their directed differentiation into
osteoblasts, endothelial cells, primitive neural cells, definitive
endoderm and fibroblasts as demonstrated by morphology,
immunohistochemical staining and by Real Time-Polymerase
Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) data. Stem cell biology is a field
that has recently seen an explosion of new work in the
last decade, stimulated by the remarkable discovery that
induced pluripotent stem cells (iPCs) 4 transcription factors
(listed above), most often by the use of retrovirus vectors
(Yamanaka, Cell 126: 663, 2006). Such iPCs are being widely
studied as possible sources of cells for the treatment of
human disease. This work has been hampered by issues of
malignant transformation of iPCs and by immune rejection
of “non-self” cells. We are aware that previous claims to
successful identification of cells with universal differentiation
from non-gonadal adult tissue have sadly resulted in some
notable and well publicized scandals, involving fabricated
data. Confidence in our admittedly unprecedented idea
is provided by information from other species. It has long
been known that a salamander or starfish can re-grow an
entire arm after amputation, but that ablation of the nerve
stump will block the regeneration. (Kumar and Brokes Trend.
Neurosci 2012 p691). We propose that this new knowledge
will also explain vexing clinical problem of impaired wound
healing experienced by severely diabetic patients and
victims of leprosy. We suggest that in the severe depletion
or absence of these newly discovered stem cells due to the
neuropathies associated with these illnesses, is the cause of
the healing difficulties seen clinically. The other implication
of this discovery is that we may now have a straightforward
opportunity to obtain individual specific “self-to-self” stem
cell treatments based on cells obtained by minimally invasive
biopsy of a nonessential peripheral neve of a specific patient
in need.
Speaker Biography
Michael Heggeness completed his PhD at UC San Diego in membrane biology and a
postdoc at Rockefeller University in Virology. He received his MD from the University of
Miami. After a residency in Orthopaedic Surgery, he completing a fellowship in Spine
Surgery at the University of Toronto. He then joined the faculty at Baylor College of
Medicine where he became Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2004. He moved take
the Orthopaedic Surgery Chair at University of Kansas in Wichita in 2013. He has 84
publications and 4 issued patents.
e:
mheggeness@kumc.eduMichael Heggeness
The University of Kansas, USA
Quiescent pluripotent stem cells capable of expressing Sox2, Oct4, Klf4 and
c-Myc reside within peripheral nerves in adult mammals and can differentiate
into cells of all 3 germ layers