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Dietary Regulation of Adult Stem Cells

  • Metabolism and Stem Cells (D Nakada, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Dietary intake is a critical regulator of organismal physiology and health. Tissue homeostasis and regeneration are dependent on adult tissue stem cells that self-renew and differentiate into the specialized cell types. As stem cells respond to cues from their environment, dietary signals and nutrients influence tissue biology by altering the function and activity of adult stem cells. In this review, we highlight recent studies that illustrate how diverse diets such as caloric restriction, fasting, high-fat diets, and ketogenic diets impact stem cell function and their microenvironments.

Recent Findings

Caloric restriction generally exerts positive effects on adult stem cells, notably increasing stem cell functionality in the intestine and skeletal muscle as well as increasing hematopoietic stem cell quiescence. Similarly, fasting confers protection of intestinal, hematopoietic, and neuronal stem cells against injury. High-fat diets induce intestinal stem cell niche independence and stem-like properties in intestinal progenitors, while high-fat diets impair hematopoiesis and neurogenesis.

Summary

Caloric restriction and fasting are generally beneficial to adult stem cell function, while high-fat diets impair stem cell function or create opportunities for tumorigenesis. However, the effects of each diet on stem cell biology are complex and vary greatly between tissues. Given the recent interest in developing dietary interventions or mimetics as therapeutics, further studies, including on ketogenic diets, will be essential to understand how adult stem cells respond to diet-induced signals and physiology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Miyeko D. Mana, Elaine Yih-Shuen Kuo & Ömer H. Yilmaz

  2. Department of Biology, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Miyeko D. Mana, Elaine Yih-Shuen Kuo & Ömer H. Yilmaz

  3. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA

    Ömer H. Yilmaz

  4. Departments of Pathology, Gastroenterology, and Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Ömer H. Yilmaz

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  1. Miyeko D. Mana
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Correspondence to Ömer H. Yilmaz.

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Miyeko D. Mana, Elaine Yih-Shuen Kuo, and Ömer H. Yilmaz declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Miyeko D. Mana and Elaine Yih-Shuen Kuo contributed equally to this work.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Metabolism and Stem Cells

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Mana, M.D., Kuo, E.YS. & Yilmaz, Ö.H. Dietary Regulation of Adult Stem Cells. Curr Stem Cell Rep 3, 1–8 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40778-017-0072-x

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