When patients receive bone marrow transplants, they are infused with complex admixtures of many different cell types with the power to regenerate their blood and immune systems. In a new study in Experimental & Molecular Medicine, scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Rong Lu share new discoveries about the influence of multipotent progenitor cells (MPPs) that are co-transplanted along with stem cells during bone marrow transplants.

“This is the first study to investigate the influence of MPPs, which we found stimulated stem cells to produce more T cells,” said Lu, the study’s corresponding author and an associate professor of stem cell biology, biomedical engineering, medicine, and gerontology at USC. “Improving T cell production in bone marrow transplantation can help prevent infections, a major complication that can be fatal for patients undergoing this treatment.”

To read more, visit https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/why-multipotent-progenitor-cells-matter/.