self-renew tagged posts

The gene Prkci promotes the generation of differentiated cells (red). However if Prkci activity is reduced or absent, neural stem cells (green) are promoted. Credit: In Kyoung Mah

When it comes to stem cells, too much of a good thing isn’t wonderful: producing too many new stem cells may lead to cancer; producing too few inhibits the repair and maintenance of the body. Medical researchers now describe a key gene in maintaining this critical balance between producing too many and too few stem cells.

Prkci is the gene influences whether stem cells self-renew to produce more stem cells, or differentiate into more specialized cell types, such as blood or nerves. In their experiments, the team grew mouse embryonic stem cells, which lacked Prkci, into embryo-like structures in the laboratory...