Stem cell infusion improves survival in mice with sepsis

A study published today in the journal eLife shows that a one-time infusion of stem cells from bone marrow improves the survival of mice with sepsis

The discovery could lead to new treatments for sepsis

Sepsis can cause a strong immune response, leading to organ failure and death

"New treatments are urgently needed to help reduce sepsis-related deaths," explained lead author Daniel Morales-Mantilla, an HHMI Gilliam Scholar

The research team first studied the effects of sepsis in mice infected with Streptococcus pyogenes, the pathogen that causes strep throat

The team suspects that the decline in the number of cells in HSPCs is because these cells work overtime to produce the immune and blood cells needed to fight infection and severe inflammation caused by sepsis

Following this discovery, the researchers investigated whether infusions of new healthy HSPCs could improve sepsis outcomes

"Surprisingly, we found that perfusion of HSPCs did not reduce bacterial populations in the mice," Morales-Mantilla said

Currently, clinicians sometimes infuse a different type of immune cell, called granulocytes, to treat patients with sepsis who are depleted of immune cells

"Our work demonstrates a potential alternative to granulocyte infusion that uses a small number of cells in a single infusion," concludes senior author Katherine King, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Texas Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Serbia Children's Hospital

Magazine

eLife

DOI

10.