Damage to stem cells caused by salmonella, a chronic bacterial infection affecting millions worldwide, can be completely reversed in mice that are treated with antibiotics, Israeli scientists say.

Using a breakthrough mouse model, a team of researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev replicated how the chronic illness generally acts in humans.

The researchers found that once antibiotics were administered, the mice not only recovered, but their stem cells also returned to healthy levels.

“The experiment gives hope to people waiting for blood transplants and waiting for donors to get better,” Prof. Roi Gazit, who heads a stem cell laboratory at Ben-Gurion University and supervised the research, told The Times of Israel in a video call.

“Now that we have the model,” Gazit said, “we can gain more knowledge, and maybe we can improve bone marrow transplant as a whole.”

Gazit said the findings of the study, which was published in Cell Reports, are “very optimistic.”

The importance of stem cell transplants

Around the world, about 90,000 stem cell transplants are done each year, according to the Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

In Israel, about 500 transplants are performed annually. The Bone Marrow Registry at Ezer Mitzion includes more than 1.3 million potential donors to help people struggling with leukemia, lymphoma, and other cancers. Stem cell transplants completely rebuild a patient’s blood and immune systems.

“People know that humans make new blood cells every day, every second throughout life,” Gazit said. “The rate is mind-blowing. It’s more than 1 million new blood cells every second. Even when you’re sitting, your bone marrow produces an astronomical number of new blood cells, and that’s merely to keep normal life in balance.”

However, the system of blood production relies on a minuscule, rare population of cells known as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that reside in the bone marrow. These cells are the ultimate source of all red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

When the body is healthy, these HSCs “rest and keep their potency by not........

© The Times of Israel