Full Description
The idea for this volume was conceived during a discussion in the hallway at a conference in early 1990. "What is the best way to detect and define pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells?" was the question posed by Dr. Fritz Melchers. After discussing the pros and cons of the available assays for quite some time, it became apparent that this topic required a wider expertise and merited a larger forum. Thus, we decided to extend the discussion and to compile the results in this volume. Much to our delight. many of the pioneers of recent experimental and theoretical developments in stem cell research agreed to contribute their expertise to answer the question. These authors review both past findings and present insights, thus providing an overview of the evolution that has been and is occurring in the field of stem cell research. In the light of recent trailblazing developments in both experimental models and in clinical application it is indeed time to reevaluate our knowledge about stem cells. Trans plantation of hematopoietic stem cells has become more and more prevalent as a curative therapy in a variety of acquired and genetic diseases, including cancer, radiation accident, as an agent for gene therapy, and perhaps even as treatment for autoimmune diseases. Stem cells are now derived not only from bone marrow but also from peripheral blood, cord blood, and fetal liver, greatly increasing their availability for human transplantation and in some cases (fetal tissues) obliterating the need to match donors and hosts.
Contents
List of Contents.- Experimental Models for Pluripotent Stem Cells.- Careful Maintenance of Undifferentiated Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells is Necessary for Their Capacity to Differentiate to Hematopoietic Lineages In Vitro.- Evaluating Functional Abilities of Primitive Hematopoietic Stem Cell Populations.- The Pre-Spleen Colony-Forming Unit Assay: Measurement of the Spleen Colony-Forming Unit Regeneration.- Clonal Analysis of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Development In Vivo.- What We Have Learned From Retroviral Marking of Hematopoietic Stem Cells.- Differentiation of Stem Cells into Lineage Restricted Precursors.- Spleen Colony-Forming Unit: A Myeloid Stem Cell.- Status of High Proliferative Potential Colony-Forming Cells in the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Hierarchy.- Characterization of Several Classes of Mouse Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells.- Pluripotent Stem Cells and Early B Lymphocyte Precursors in Mice.- Microenvironments for Hematopoiesis.- Stern Cell-Stromal Cell Interactions.- The Stem Cell Compartment: Assays and Negative Regulators.- Stroma-Dependent Hematolymphopoietic Stem Cells.- Human Stem Cell Transplantation.- Marrow Transplantation.- The Fetal Liver as a Source of Stem Cells for Transplantation into Fetuses in Utero.- Human Umbilical Cord Blood as a Source of Transplantable Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells.- Biology and Clinical Application of Peripheral Blood Stem Cells.- Gene Transfer.- Gene Transfer into Hematopoietic Stem Cells: Prospects for Human Gene Therapy.- Gene Transfer into Hematopoietic Stem Cells.
