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Horm Metab Res 2008; 40(2): 137-146
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1022560
Review

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

The Promise of Hox11+ Stem Cells of the Spleen for Treating Autoimmune Diseases

A. Lonyai 1 , S. Kodama 2 , D. Burger 1 , M. Davis 1 , D. L. Faustman 1
  • 1Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  • 2Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Further Information

Publication History

received 26.09.2007

accepted 26.10.2007

Publication Date:
19 February 2008 (online)

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Abstract

The spleen of human adults uniquely possesses a reservoir of multilineage adult stem cells that express the developmental transcription factor Hox11. In contrast to hematopoietic stem cells, Hox11+ stem cells hold potentially broader therapeutic applications because they are less lineage restricted. Hox11/Tlx1 is part of a homeodomain gene family essential for organogenesis of the spleen and for contributions to development of hindbrain, cochlea, pancreas, salivary glands, among other organs and tissues. While Hox11/Tlx1 displays widespread patterns of expression during embryogenesis, its expression was thought to cease after birth. Recent findings in human post-mortem tissue have shattered this dogma, finding that Hox11/Tlx1 stem cells are uniquely and abundantly expressed throughout adulthood in the human spleen. While their role in humans is not yet understood, Hox11/Tlx1 stem cells from the spleen of normal mice have been harvested to assist in both the treatment and cure at least two autoimmune diseases: type 1 diabetes, Sjogren's syndrome, and possibly their comorbid hearing loss. The splenic stem cells are infused, with an immune therapy, into diseased NOD mice, where they can home to the diseased organ, differentiate into the appropriate cell type, and assume normal functioning with the endogenous regeneration of the animal due to disease removal. This review covers Hox11/Tlx1+ stem cells’ success in an animal model and their potential for treating autoimmune diseases in organs that mirror their extensive expression patterns during embryogenesis.

Key words

spleen - regeneration - Hox11 - Sjogren's syndrome - type 1 diabetes - hearing loss

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Correspondence

D.L. Faustman

Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Building 149

13th Street

Room 3602

Boston

02129 MA

USA

Phone: +1/617/726 40 84

Email: faustman@helix.mgh.harvard.edu

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