Researchers find stem cell surface glycosphingolipids change upon differentiation

 8 December, 2011  A research team at the Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology (ICOB) at Taiwan's Academia Sinica has discovered that glycosphingolipids on the surface of cells change composition when human embryonic stem cells differentiate into precursors of specialized cells such as neurons, or liver and pancreas cells. These findings, which contribute to the search for safe ways of using stem cells for regenerative medicine, were published in the online edition of the journal Stem Cells on November 16, 2011. The team of researchers from the Academia Sinica's ICOB, Genomics Research Center (GRC) and Institute of Biological Chemistry recently discovered that a type of compounds found on the surface of human embryonic stem cells, called glycosphingolipids, change composition as the cells differentiate into precursors of specialized cells such as neurons and liver cells. These findings suggest that glycosphingolipids might be suitable for use as markers of the state of differentiation of stem cells. Regeneration of damaged tissues is one of the holy grails in medical research, and embryonic stem cells, with their ability to renew themselves and differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell-types, are considered a promising source for cell replacement therapies. Unfortunately, alongside their differentiation ability, embryonic stem cells also have a propensity to develop into tumors, a characteristic that currently presents a large obstacle to their clinical use. A knowledge of the state of differentiation of these cells may allow researchers to develop a method by which to sort undifferentiated cells from those that are differentiated, and thus, perhaps allow removal of the undifferentiated cells most likely to form tumors bringing the safe regeneration of human cells or organs one step closer. Dr. John Yu, Distinguished Research Fellow at ICOB and leader of the research team that made the discovery, said that he hopes the advance will pave the way for developing new strategies for safer stem cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine.