Study identifies stem cell that gives rise to new bone and cartilage in humans
Medical Xpress | September 20, 2018
A decade-long effort led by Stanford University School of Medicine scientists has been rewarded with the identification of the human skeletal stem cell. The cell, which can be isolated from human bone or generated from specialized cells in fat, gives rise to progenitor cells that can make new bone, the spongy stroma of the bone's interior and the cartilage that helps our knees and other joints function smoothly and painlessly.
The discovery allowed the researchers to create a kind of family tree of stem cells important to the development and maintenance of the human skeleton. It could also pave the way to treatments for regenerating bone and cartilage in people.