Bmi1 and muscle satellite cells

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Role of Bmi1 in maintenance and function of muscle satellite cells

• Sponsor organisation

  Queen Mary University of London

• ISRCTN Number

  n/a

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  n/a

• Research summary

  Adult skeletal muscle has remarkable ability to repair itself after injury as a result of its resident stem cell population, the Ó?satellite cells?. In the uninjured muscle these cells are in a resting state, after injury they are stimulated to begin proliferating, some will then differentiate to help repair the damaged muscle while others will return to the resting state and maintain the pool of satellite cells. However with age and in muscle diseases like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) the satellite cells ability to proliferate is severely impaired and this results in degenerative changes in the muscles, leading to premature disability and even death. In other stem cell populations the ability to proliferate is regulated by the level of a polycomb group gene Bmi1. The loss of Bmi1 leads to a severely reduced proliferative ability and the overexpression of Bmi1 has been shown to keep cells proliferative. We have preliminary data that shows that Bmi1 is expressed in the satellite cell population and that the loss or gain of Bmi1 function in the satellite cells decreases and increases, respectively, the proliferation of the satellite cells in culture. We plan to investigate in more detail the function of Bmi1 in the satellite cell population. We will investigate the level of Bmi1 expression during ageing and in DMD, as Bmi1 may be crucial for maintaining the satellite cell pool of the skeletal muscle and its depletion during ageing and muscular disorders may be a key molecular mechanism underlying these processes.

• REC name

  London - City & East Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  08/H0704/161

• Date of REC Opinion

  16 Dec 2008

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion