Blood cells develop from stem cells

BALTIMORE, Jun 21, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Researchers in Baltimore have discovered that human embryonic stem cells grown in the laboratory develop spontaneously into blood cells.

"Our findings provide an unparalleled opportunity to study the basic questions of human development, like 'Where does blood come from?'" said Dr. Elias Zambidis, who teaches at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

The research using stem cells from existing lines also avoids the potential ethical problems of other techniques, like using cloning to create embryos.

Zanbidis said that studying how blood cells develop will allow the development of treatments for leukemia and other cancers of the blood. He said that the genes that help blood cells develop appear to be the ones that go wrong when cancers appear.

The research was reported in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology.