Muscle Regeneration by Bone Marrow-Derived Myogenic Progenitors
Giuliana Ferrari,
Gabriella Cusella-,
De Angelis,
Marcello Coletta,
Egle Paolucci,
Anna Stornaiuolo,
Giulio Cossu,
*
Fulvio Mavilio
*
Growth and repair of skeletal muscle are normally mediated by the
satellite cells that surround muscle fibers. In regenerating muscle,
however, the number of myogenic precursors exceeds that of resident
satellite cells, implying migration or recruitment of undifferentiated
progenitors from other sources. Transplantation of genetically marked
bone marrow into immunodeficient mice revealed that marrow-derived
cells migrate into areas of induced muscle degeneration, undergo
myogenic differentiation, and participate in the regeneration of the
damaged fibers. Genetically modified, marrow-derived myogenic
progenitors could potentially be used to target therapeutic genes to
muscle tissue, providing an alternative strategy for treatment of
muscular dystrophies.
G. Ferrari, E. Paolucci, A. Stornaiuolo, F. Mavilio, H. San
Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy
(TIGET), 20132 Milan, Italy.
G. Cusella-De Angelis, Istituto di Anatomia Umana Normale, University
of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
M. Coletta and G. Cossu, Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti,Dipartimento di Istologia ed Embriologia
Medica, University of Rome "La Sapienza", 00161 Rome, Italy.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
cossu{at}axrma.uniroma1.it (G.C.) or mavilio{at}tigem.it (F.M.).
