An analogue of vitamin B3 could help improve the effectiveness of stem cell transplants, Swiss researchers have reported.
The chemical nicotinamide riboside could be taken as a dietary supplement and, according to laboratory studies, can significantly boost the activity of stem cell transplants.
The researchers in Lausanne set out to find ways to tackle the stress on mitochondria that results from stem cells having to repopulate the blood supply. In the cell studies, they found that the nicotinamide riboside increased mitochondrial recycling, improving the function of stem cells.
In mouse studies, they found that administering a diet supplemented with nicotinamide riboside resulted in the survival of 80% of the animals after a limited stem cell transplant, whereas none of the animals on the control diet survived.
The results were published last week in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Prof Olaia Naveiras, of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, said: “We expect nicotinamide riboside and other mitochondrial modulators to become a complementary approach for increasing stem cell fitness and accelerating blood production, either through dietary supplementation or pharmacological administration."
Source: Vannini, N., Campos, V., Girotra, M., Trachsel, V., Rojas-Sutterlin, S., Tratwal, J., Ragusa, S., Stefanidis, E., Ryu, D., Rainer, P.Y., Nikitin, G., Giger, S., Li, T.Y., Semilietof, A., Oggier, A., Yersin, Y., Tauzin, L., Pirinen, E., Cheng, W.C., Ratajczak, J., Canto, C., Ehrbar, M., Sizzano, F., Petrova, T.V., Vanhecke, D., Zhang, L., Romero, P., Nahimana, A., Cherix, S., Duchosal, M.A., Ho, P.C., Deplancke, B., Coukos, G., Auwerx, J., Lutolf, M.P., Naveiras, O. (2019) “The NAD-Booster Nicotinamide Riboside Potently Stimulates Hematopoiesis through Increased Mitochondrial Clearance”, Cell Stem Cell, available from doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2019.02.012
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