Stem cells to treat muscular dystrophies.

Stem cells, capable of giving rise to both differentiated skeletal muscle and to more stem cells, would be ideal for treating chronic myopathies such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. However, although satellite cells have been shown to be functional muscle stem cells in animal models, other muscle or non-muscle stem cells are far less capable of contributing to skeletal muscle regeneration. This review discusses recent work on stem cell contribution to skeletal muscle regeneration and highlights the problems to be overcome before stem cell treatment of muscle diseases may become a possibility.