OUR RESEARCH: Gene important to stem cell health discovered
Date: July 29, 2010

Dr. Richard Allsopp at the microscope in a JABSOM lab at Kaka'ako Researchers at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) have discovered a gene that is essential to keeping stem cells healthy. The finding by Dr. Richard Allsopp and his colleagues here and in Nevada is featured in July's on-line edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The discovery centers on the gene, hypoxia inducible factor 1, and its role in keeping levels of telomerase constant. Telomerase is an enzyme that is critical to a stem cell’s lifespan, helping to prevent or slow deterioration in the cells. When telomerase is reduced in a stem cell, the stem cell ages faster.

To demonstrate the gene’s role in regulating levels of telomerase, Dr. Richard Allsopp and his colleagues at JABSOM and Sierra Sciences, Nevada, reduced the amount of hypoxia inducible factor 1 to less than half of what is normally found in embryonic stem cells of mice. In the absence of the normal level of the gene, the scientists observed a corresponding reduction in telomerase and an increased rate of aging of stem cells.

“These findings have important implications for the development of potential therapies to treat both age-related diseases associated with exhaustion of stem cells, as well as various types of cancer that are dependent on cancer stem cells to grow,” said Dr. Allsopp, an assistant professor and Graduate Program co-chair at JABSOM’s Institute for Biogenesis Research.

Funding from The Tilker Medical Research Foundation in Honolulu and San Francisco helped support Dr. Allsopp’s research. The Foundation is dedicated to finding solutions to a wide range of conditions, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as spinal cord injuries and autoimmune diseases.

To access an abstract of Dr. Allsopp’s PNAS findings, see
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/07/07/0913834107.abstract.