Long-term persistence of donor nuclei in a Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient receiving bone marrow transplantation

Abstract

metabolism or macrophage function such as lysosomal storage diseases or osteopetrosis Adult bone marrow (BM) contains mesenchymal stem cell progenitors (MSCs), which can give rise to osteocytes, chondrocytes, adipocytes, and skeletal muscle (9, 10). Marrow also contains progenitors for neural (11, 12), hepatic (13, 14), cardiac (15, 16), and epithelial cells (17), indicating the potential of BMT to repair nonhematopoietic tissues. Engraftment of donor-derived cells in nonhematopoietic tissues has been described in human BMT recipients (18, However, recent findings demonstrated that BM cells fuse to and subsequently adapt the phenotype of host cells in vitro, thus questioning the transdifferentiation abilities of BM cells in vivo (20).