Stem Cells Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stem Cells, including details on research, transplants, therapy, benefits.

Integrins are markers of human neural stem cells.

Hall PE, Lathia JD, Miller NG, Caldwell MA, ffrench-Constant C

Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP, United Kingdom.

The identification of markers for the isolation of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) is essential for studies of their biology and therapeutic applications. This study investigated expression of the integrin receptor family by hNSCs as potential markers. Selection of alpha6(hi) or beta1(hi) cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting led to an enrichment of human neural precursors, as shown by both neurosphere forming assays and increased expression of prominin-1, sox2, sox3, nestin, bmi1, and musashi1 in the beta1(hi) population. Cells expressing high levels of beta1 integrin also expressed prominin-1 (CD133), a marker previously used to isolate hNSCs, and selection using integrin beta1(hi) cells or prominin-1(hi) cells was found to be equally effective at enriching for hNSCs from neurospheres. Therefore, integrin subunits alpha6 and beta1 are highly expressed by human neural precursors and represent convenient markers for their prospective isolation.

Published 1 September 2006 in Stem Cells, 24(9): 2078-84.
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