Doe Chris Q
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Institute of Neuroscience, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
Development. 2008 May;135(9):1575-87. doi: 10.1242/dev.014977. Epub 2008 Mar 20.
Stem cells are captivating because they have the potential to make multiple cell types yet maintain their undifferentiated state. Recent studies of Drosophila and mammalian neural stem cells have shed light on how stem cells regulate self-renewal versus differentiation and have revealed the proteins, processes and pathways that all converge to regulate neural progenitor self-renewal. If we can better understand how stem cells balance self-renewal versus differentiation, we will significantly advance our knowledge of embryogenesis, cancer biology and brain evolution, as well as the use of stem cells for therapeutic purposes.
干细胞之所以引人入胜，是因为它们有潜力分化为多种细胞类型，同时保持未分化状态。最近对果蝇和哺乳动物神经干细胞的研究，揭示了干细胞如何调节自我更新与分化，还发现了所有共同作用以调节神经祖细胞自我更新的蛋白质、过程和信号通路。如果我们能更好地理解干细胞如何平衡自我更新与分化，将极大地推动我们在胚胎发育、癌症生物学和大脑进化方面的知识，以及干细胞在治疗中的应用。
