For cell reprogramming, there are about 2,000 known transcription factors that might be useful in changing a cell from one state to another, such as creating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from skin cells.
Adult stem cell research does take place at Georgetown, in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, in addition to groundbreaking stem - like cell research in the Center
for Cell Reprogramming.
By matching normal and cancer cells from a patient, we can now study the differences — what molecules are key to tumor development and growth, and, ultimately, match treatments that might disable this cancer,» says the study's senior investigator, associate professor of pathology, Xuefeng Liu, MD, a member of the Center
for Cell Reprogramming (CCR) at Georgetown University Medical Center.
«Big step
for cell reprogramming.»
Not exact matches
Bellicum is among the flurry of biotechs investing heavily into
cell therapies such as experimental chimeric antigen receptor T -
cell (CAR - T) treatments
for cancer (this is the next - gen treatment that involves
reprogramming immune
cells to become cancer killers and has shown promise in blood cancers, which Bellicum specializes in).
In 2005, before a Congressional hearing in the U.S., Prof. George Q. Daley of Harvard spoke forcefully and influentially about the necessity
for embryonic stem -
cell research to go ahead, and dismissed suggestions that one could work instead with «induced pluripotent stem
cells» («iPS», i.e. stem
cells reprogrammed from some
cells of a living adult).
He has more than fifteen years» experience in the life science industry, including the product development, market development and commercialization of
cells, scaffolds,
cell reprogramming tools and
cell culture media
for regenerative medicine and bioprocessing applications.
Next they tested thousands of different compounds
for their ability to kill these
reprogrammed cells.
For the first time, specialised
cells have been
reprogrammed into the equivalent of embryonic stem
cells without using genes that might trigger cancer.
Ding's team took
cells called fibroblasts from the connective tissues of mouse fetuses and bathed them in a cocktail of the four polyarginine - tagged proteins
for 12 hours, then they removed the
reprogramming proteins
for 36 hours, and repeated this cycle four times over.
This microscope picture shows a colony of induced pluripotent stem
cells (iPSC) obtained by
reprogramming a specialized
cell for two weeks.
«This research has broad impact, because by deepening our understanding of
cell reprogramming we have the potential to improve disease modeling and the generation of better sources of patient - specific specialized
cells suitable
for replacement therapy,» said Plath.
Scientists have rolled back time
for live mice through systemic cellular
reprogramming, according to a study published December 15 in
Cell.
Testing each of these factors
for their ability to return differentiated tumor
cells to a stem - like state, identified a combination of four — POU3F2, SOX2, SALL2 and OLIG2 — that was able to
reprogram differentiated tumor
cells back into glioblastoma stem
cells, both in vitro and in an animal model.
This year those breakthroughs include tools
for reprogramming living
cells and rendering lab animals transparent; ways of powering electronics with sound waves and saliva; smartphone screens that correct
for the flaws in your vision; Lego - like atomic structures that could produce major advances in superconductivity research; and others.
• Scrutiny continued this week
for Haruko Obokata, the Japanese stem -
cell scientist whose apparent stunning advance —
reprogramming adult stem
cells by stressing them in acid — has proved difficult to reproduce, even by her own collaborators.
In addition to helping understand disease by providing more powerful study models, «what this technology would allow you to do is
reprogram a skin
cell,
for example, from a Parkinson's patient... into a pluripotent
cell and then in a petri dish redirect that
cell into... a neuron» to treat that patient.
Others in that camp suggest that
reprogrammed adult
cells, (induced pluripotent, or iPSCs) can effectively replace the need
for pluripotent embryonic stem
cells.
«
Reprogramming patients»
cells offers powerful new tool
for studying, treating blood diseases.»
But to convert adult
cells into embryonic - like
cells means genetic
reprogramming,
for example with a virus, and the
reprogrammed cells do not yet match embryonic stem
cells.
«This was strange because it meant that, contrary to what we believed, MYC isn't necessary
for cells to
reprogram efficiently,» said Tim Rand, MD, PhD, staff scientist at Gladstone and a first author of the study.
The Third International Congress on Responsible Stem
Cell Research, scheduled
for 25 - 28 April, was to focus on clinical applications of adult and
reprogrammed stem
cells.
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes revealed,
for the first time, a method to
reprogram specific T
cells.
«How to
reprogram cells in our immune system: The discovery could improve treatments
for autoimmune diseases and cancer.»
«By identifying the areas of the genome that are directly involved in the
reprogramming, we have also identified an important factor in the process — the gene regulatory protein KLF11 (Kruppel Like Factor - 11), which is found in all fat
cells, and we have shown that it is required
for the
reprogramming to take place.»
Moriguchi also presented a July 2011 patent application
for «Methods and Compositions
for Reprogramming Cells,» that names himself and Chung as the inventors and designates the assignee as «The General Hospital Corporation, Boston, MA,» the MGH legal entity.
Researchers at the Center
for iPS
Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, took advantage of this strategy by
reprogramming FOP patient
cells and then seeking candidate molecules that could explain how the disease initiates.
«By
reprogramming human
cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods
for diagnosis and therapy,» the Nobel judges wrote.
Perhaps in the future it may be possible
for doctors to apply flexible bandages to severely burnt skin to
reprogram the
cells to heal that injury with functional tissue instead of forming a scar.
The approach —
reprogramming somatic
cells — promises to be a boon
for regenerative medicine.
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.
Researchers might generate personalized brain organoids from the
reprogrammed skin
cells of individuals with, say, schizophrenia and test which medications work best
for patients with particular genetic profiles of the illness.
Summers and the research team, led by Dr. Mike Jensen at the Ben Towne Center
for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children's Research Institute, are opening PLAT - 04 after discovering that of the patients who relapsed in the PLAT - 02 trial, approximately 40 percent of them relapsed with a leukemia that evolved to circumvent the CAR T
cells that were
reprogrammed to detect and destroy cancer.
Reprogramming of adult somatic
cells into induced pluripotent stem
cells (iPSCs) provides a powerful tool
for in vitro disease modeling and drug screening.
The idea is that, by placing an adult
cell from a diabetic,
for example, into a human egg
cell, the egg
cell could turn back the clock of the adult DNA, or
reprogram it, to its initial, pristine state.
In the nearer term,
reprogrammed cells may improve the screening drug candidates
for harmful side effects.
«Use of induced pluripotent stem
cell (iPSC) technology» — which involves taking skin
cells from patients and
reprogramming them into embryonic - like stem
cells capable of turning into other specific
cell types relevant
for studying a particular disease — «makes it possible to model dementias that affect people later in life,» says senior study author Catherine Verfaillie of KU Leuven.
These stem
cells, which are similar to highly sought - after embryonic stem
cells but derived from adult
cells and then
reprogrammed, could be turned into the
cell types needed
for research, including neurons and intestinal and fat
cells.
In one study, geneticist Joseph Ecker at the Salk Institute in California took various stem
cell lines
reprogrammed from skin, fat, and other tissues and examined each line's genome
for dna methylation, chemical marks that alter how genes are expressed.
The award was given
for their work showing that mature
cells can be
reprogrammed into pluripotent stem
cells.
This is all it takes
for a so - called precursor fat
cell to have its «epigenetic recipe» on how to correctly develop into a mature fat
cell,
reprogrammed.
Until that happens, though,
reprogrammed cells are far from ready
for the clinic.
Furthermore, the SSUP proteins are required
for efficient
reprogramming of induced pluripotent stem
cells.
We did get some
cells but they turned out to be tumour
cells rather than the
reprogrammed stem
cells — known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS)
cells — that we were hoping
for.
«We believe that BPA actually
reprograms the stem
cells to be more sensitive to estrogen throughout life, leading to a life - long increased susceptibility
for diseases including cancer,» Prins says.
The stem
cell transcription factor SOX2, which is critical
for stem
cells,
cell reprogramming, and brain development, also is activated in astrocytes in the adult brain.
This means that
reprogramming process begins, there is no longer any room
for chance; the genes involved are ready to be activated and enable the successful
reprogramming of all the
cells.
He was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize along with Sir John Gurdon «
for the discovery that mature
cells can be
reprogrammed to become pluripotent.»
At the same time, the work provides new clues
for successfully
reprogramming cells in humans and advances in regenerative medicine and its medical applications.
Researchers from the Centre
for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona have now described a novel mechanism by which adult
cells can be
reprogrammed into iPS
cells successfully and in a very short period of time.