Bone marrow can turn into fat cells: research

Researchers in Sweden and France have shown that bone marrow can turn into fat cells in humans in a groundbreaking new study, it was announced Thursday.

Researchers examined transplanted bone-marrow cells from up to 31 years ago and showed that they can turn into fat cells, the Karolinska Institutet said in a press release.

"This is an unprecedented follow-up period and one that can therefore give us a great deal more information than the relatively short studies previously done on mice," said Mikael Ryden, a researcher at Karolinska.

The study, recently published in the journal Cell Metabolism, suggests it's possible for bone-marrow cells to develop into different cell types, a claim disputed by researchers.

Over a lifetime some 10 percent of a bone transplant patient's near-skin fat consisted of donor-derived cells, it said.

Overweight patients were 2.5 times more likely than slim patients to carry fat cells that originated from the transplanted bone marrow.

"The next step for us is to find out exactly which bone marrow stem cells can become fat cells," Ryden said.

"These studies were done on people who had received a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia, and it remains to be seen if the results also apply to people who haven't had a transplant. If they do, it could lead to new therapies for patients with metabolic diseases," he added. Endit