The role of adrenomedullary stem cells in adrenal cortex development and regeneration

The adrenal glands are organs located above the kidneys, that release necessary compounds called hormones into the bloodstream, regulating many essential body processes, including how we respond to stress, our heart rate and blood pressure, and how our metabolism and immune system function. Diseases of the adrenal gland result in these organs not working properly, with life-threatening consequences. Some of these diseases can develop in the womb, when the fetal organs are still developing, and other diseases can affect us at any stage of life. Current treatments are not curative and many patients experience persistent life-long symptoms and poor quality of life. Regenerative therapies are treatments that aim to repair and restore human organs, following damage of disease. For the adrenal glands, regenerative therapies are not advanced enough to treat patients; new adrenal gland cells can be made in a dish in the laboratory, but this process is not very efficient, and the cells don’t function as well as the ones normally found in the body. We think that the failure to efficiently generate adrenal cells in the dish might be because we are not providing necessary biologically active compounds (signals), which cells are normally exposed to when the adrenal glands develop in the embryo. Our research on animal models has uncovered a situation where the right signals are being given, leading to the generation of new adrenal tissue at a time in life when we didn’t think this was possible. These preliminary data demonstrate that if the signals are provided, the generation of functional adrenal cells may be much improved. Our main aim is to pinpoint and study those signals, and reproduce them on human cells in the laboratory, in order to push them to become the fully functioning cells required by regenerative therapies for adrenal diseases. Our approach can benefit regenerative therapies in many ways, from improving current approaches, to instigating entirely new avenues. We expect this knowledge will be helpful for scientists working on tackling regenerative approaches for other organs, and we expect that in the long-term, this study will benefit patients suffering from adrenal disorders.