http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=8441&utm_source=feedburner&...

Bone marrow failure may begin earlier than previously thought.

Boston, Mass. -- Children with Fanconi anemia, a genetic disease that can be fatal in the absence of a bone marrow transplant, typically do not experience low blood cell counts until about age 7. However, by modeling the disease in the laboratory using embryonic stem cells, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston reveal that the events leading to bone marrow failure (inadequate production of blood cells) may actually begin before birth, casting a whole new light on the disease.

Researchers led by Asmin Tulpule, PhD, doctoral student in Children's Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and stem cell researcher George Daley, MD, PhD, Director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Children's, generated blood cells from human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to replicate the earliest stages of blood formation. As reported in the journal Blood online on January 20, they then knocked down, or suppressed, two genes associated with Fanconi anemia, and demonstrated that the disease compromises the formation of blood cells from the earliest stages of human development.