Gussoni Laboratory

Muscle stem cells

The Gussoni laboratory studies muscle stem cells in human and mouse tissues, with the translational goal of developing cell-based strategies to enhance regeneration or slow the progression of muscular dystrophy.

A primary lab focus is to understand the function of tetraspanin CD82 in muscle stem cells. We found that CD82 is an excellent prospective marker for myogenic cells and it likely regulates muscle stem cells activation through binding with alpha 7 integrin.We are currently focused on determining the role of CD82 in normal and dystrophic muscle and whether loss or overexpression of CD82 can modify the progression of muscle pathology in dystrophic mice.

Another lab focus is to discover new antigens expressed by muscle stem cells and their role in normal and diseased tissue. Few cell surface antigens are known for prospective isolation of muscle stem cells from human muscle, especially from dystrophic muscle where inherent deficiencies, such as protein glycosylation might alter expression of proteins at the cell surface. We identify new prospective markers and study their function in normal and diseased tissue. Purified myogenic cells are tested for efficacy in cell transplantation in a mouse model for muscular dystrophy.