Scientists use
cell reprogramming techniques to produce cells in the lab so that they can study diseases.
But now, a team of researchers at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, has used a unique cloning and
cell reprogramming technique to create a fresh piece of tissue or stem cells that perfectly match and is compatible with the skin of the affected patient.
Not exact matches
The team demonstrated that
cell sex considerably influenced cellular uptake of nanoparticles and found that
cells from men and women responded differently to
reprogramming techniques used to enhance the ability of the
cells to differentiate into a greater variety of
cell types.
These
techniques include: human tissue created by
reprogramming cells from people with the relevant disease (dubbed «patient in a dish»); «body on a chip» devices, where human tissue samples on a silicon chip are linked by a circulating blood substitute; many computer modelling approaches, such as virtual organs, virtual patients and virtual clinical trials; and microdosing studies, where tiny doses of drugs given to volunteers allow scientists to study their metabolism in humans, safely and with unsurpassed accuracy.
CTL119 manufacturing begins with a patient's own T
cells, some of which are removed and then
reprogrammed in Penn's Clinical
Cell and Vaccine Production Facility with a gene transfer
technique designed to teach the T
cells to target and kill tumor
cells.
Techniques that
reprogram cells have revolutionized the stem
cell field.
Since Yamanaka's breakthrough, dozens of groups have reported other ways of
reprogramming cells as well as
techniques to control differentiation of stem
cells into neurons, cardiovascular
cells, and other tissues of interest for regenerative medicine.
Thanks to a promising
technique known as
cell reprogramming, this science fiction scenario may soon become reality.
For the new study, the team used a
cell -
reprogramming technique (similar to those used to
reprogram skin
cells into stem
cells) to generate human DRG - type sensory neurons from ordinary skin
cells called fibroblasts.
The group combines several cutting - edge single molecule imaging
techniques to study how protein organization, dynamics and stoichiometry relate to protein function in several fundamental biological processes, such as intracellular transport, autoimmune neurological disorders or stem
cell reprogramming.
The breakthrough was possible because the research team used conditional
reprogramming (CR), a laboratory
technique, developed and described by Liu, Richard Schlegel, MD, PhD, director of the CCR, and their colleagues at Georgetown in 2011, that makes it possible to continuously grow
cells in a laboratory indefinitely.
But the favored
reprogramming technique, somatic
cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), otherwise known as research cloning, is fraught with ethical pitfalls as well as technical difficulties because it entails creating a human embryo by inserting an adult
cell nucleus into an ooctye.
They also want to see if they can use a variation of the
technique to
reprogram human
cells placed inside a mouse.
In the new research, Prins and Liau used a
technique called adoptive
cell transfer, which involves extracting and growing immune cells outside of the body, then reprogramming them with a gene known as New York Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, or NY - ESO
cell transfer, which involves extracting and growing immune
cells outside of the body, then
reprogramming them with a gene known as New York Esophageal Squamous
Cell Carcinoma, or NY - ESO
Cell Carcinoma, or NY - ESO - 1.
To make iPS
cells, scientists use a
technique called cellular
reprogramming.
For example, using existing
techniques, fewer than one percent of adult skin
cells are
reprogrammed into iPSCs.
However, researchers have found ways to
reprogram these adult
cells so their identities are no longer fixed and they can theoretically become any type of
cells; these
reprogramming techniques led researchers to the creation of iPS
cells.
Using a
technique known as transcription factor
reprogramming, first described by the Japanese stem -
cell pioneer Shinya Yamanaka and his colleagues in 2007, Ku «rebooted» the skin
cells» genetic machinery to turn them into stem
cells.
The crux of the discovery, published online Tuesday by the journals
Cell and Science, is a «direct
reprogramming»
technique that adds a cocktail of four genetic factors to run - of - the - mill human skin
cells.
In the several years since those first reports, new advances in the derivation of hiPSCs from various tissue sources (including those from human patients) and using diverse
reprogramming techniques, and in their use as a pluripotent
cell source in the induced differentiation of a wide array of somatic
cell types, have appeared with almost startling rapidity.
This
technique, pioneered by Gladstone Investigator and 2012 Nobel Laureate Shinya Yamanaka MD, PhD, allows scientists to
reprogram adult skin
cells into
cells that are virtually identical to stem
cells.
The choice of the somatic
cell for
reprogramming, the
reprogramming technology chosen, and the differentiation
techniques utilised, all work synergistically towards the production of mature iPSCs - derived chondrocytes which are comparable to patient - derived chondrocytes, in line with Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines for an «off - the - shelf» stem
cell product.
Other
techniques can
reprogram «adult»
cells in the human body taken from skin, for example — but the
cells still carry baggage from their previous state.