Immortal Neural Stem Cell

Milan, Italy -

Immortalized stem cell lines are great tools for drug discovery in that they can be used for screening of chemical libraries for compounds that induce either self renewal or differentiation along a specific lineage. Therapeutically, despite oncogenic potential, differentiated stem cell lines have been used in clinical trials for stroke.

In a recent paper (De Filippis et al. A Novel, Immortal And Multipotent Human Neural Stem Cell Line Generating Functional Neurons And Oligodendrocytes. Stem Cells 2007, June 7) a new type of neuronal stem cell line is described.

The cell line, named IhNSC was derived by transfection of human neural stem cells with the v-myc oncogene. The immortalized cells proliferate at a 3-4 fold higher rate as compared to parent cells and upon growth factor removal differentiate into astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and neurons. The neurons generated include gabaergic, glutamatergic and cholinergic. Importantly, the authors state that other neural cell lines do not produce high numbers of oligodendrocytes upon differentiation. The IhNSC cells produce high numbers of oligodendrocytes upon differentiation.

In conclusion, the authors present a new research tool which will be helpful in furthering knowledge of neural stem cells.