Researchers at the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) say that stem cells in the bowel are in constant competition and only a few survive after a battle for survival between each other.
They say that the stem cell population for an area at a time is limited, and they have also discovered the numbers. Technically the population count of stem cells is referred to as ‘stem cell niche’.
The study, it is believed will provide researchers vital clues as to how bowel cancers develop. The team used a specially developed toolkit inside the human body for studying the stem cells.
The toolkit works by taking random measurements of mutations occurring in ageing stem cells and by recording their behaviour. The procedure is considered unique in the sense that this is being used in their natural environment. This helps to get a clearer picture of their behaviour.
The biology of stem cells in the human body has been largely evasive and whatever information is available is related to studies in mice. This means that most of the time, research findings lacked the means to apply the same in humans.
Indications are that this new method will open the floodgates for studying stem cell behaviours in other body organs like prostate, skin, lung and breast.
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