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J. Exp. Med.,
Volume 189, Number 4, February 15, 1999 729-734
By

From the * Cancer Center and the Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical
Center, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605; and the Allogeneic and autologous marrow transplants are routinely used to correct a wide variety of
diseases. In addition, autologous marrow transplants potentially provide opportune means of
delivering genes in transfected, engrafting stem cells. However, relatively little is known about
the mechanisms of engraftment in transplant recipients, especially in the nonablated setting and
with regard to cells not of hemopoietic origin. In particular, this includes stromal cells and progenitors of the osteoblastic lineage. We have demonstrated for the first time that a whole bone
marrow transplant contains cells that engraft and become competent osteoblasts capable of producing bone matrix. This was done at the individual cell level in situ, with significant numbers
of donor cells being detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization in whole femoral sections.
Engrafted cells were functionally active as osteoblasts producing bone before being encapsulated within the bone lacunae and terminally differentiating into osteocytes. Transplanted cells were also detected as flattened bone lining cells on the periosteal bone surface.
Resource for Molecular Cytogenetics, Life Sciences
Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720
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