Cell Research News – What’s to Follow?
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Reporter
Leaders in Pharmaceutical Intelligence
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2014/08/26/larryhbern/Cell_Research_News_-_What’s_to_Follow?
Stem Cell Research ‘Holy Grail’ Uncovered, Thanks to Zebrafish
With help from the zebrafish, a team of Australian researchers has uncovered how
hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) renew themselves.
HSCs refers to stem cells present in the blood and bone marrow that are used
for the replenishment of the body’s supply of blood and immune cells –
- in transplants for leukemia and myeloma.
- Stem cells have the potential to transform into vital cells
including muscle, bone, and blood vessels.
Understanding how HSCs form and renew themselves has potential application in the
treatment of
- spinal cord injuries
- degenerative disorders
- diabetes.
Professor Peter Currie, of the Australian Regen Med Institute at Victoria’s Monash
University, led a research team to discover a crucial part of HSC’s development. Using
a high-resolution microscopy, Prof. Curie’s team
- caught zebrafish embyonic SCs on film as they formed.
- the researchers were studying muscle mutations in the aquatic animal.
“Zebrafish make ESCs in exactly the same way as humans do, but their embryos and
larvae develop free living, but the larvae are both free swimming and transparent, so one could see every cell in the body forming, including ESCs,” explained Prof. Currie.
The researchers noticed in films that a
- ‘buddy cell’ came along to help the ESCs form.
Called endotome cells,
- they aided pre-ESCs to turn into ESCs.
Prof. Currie said that endotome cells act as helper cells for pre-ESCs ,
- helping them progress to become fully fledged stem cells.
The team not only
- identified some of the cells and signals
- required for ESC formation, but also
- pinpointed the genes required
- for endotome formation in the first place.
The next step for the researchers is to
- locate the signals present in the endotome cells
- that trigger ESC formation in the embryo.
This may provide clues for developing
- specific blood cells on demand for blood-related disorders.
Professor Currie also pointed out the discovery’s potential for
- correcting genetic defects in the cell and
- transplanting them back in the body to treat disorders.
The team’s work was published in the international journal Nature.
Jell-O Like Biomaterial Could Hold Key to Cancer Cell Destruction
by Estel Grace Masangkay
Scientists from Penn State University reported that a biomaterial made of tiny
molecules was able to attract and destroy cancer cells.
Professor Yong Wang and bioengineering faculty at Penn State, built the
tissue-like biomaterial to accomplish what chemotherapy could not –
- kill every cancer cell without leaving
- the possibility of a recurrence.
Prof. Wang and team built polymers
- from tiny molecules called monomers. They
- then wove the polymers into 3D networks
called hydrogels. Hydrogel is soft and flexible,
like Jell-O, and it contains a lot of water, and
- can be safely put into the body, unlike
other implants that the body often tries
- to get rid of through the immune response.
“We want to make sure the materials we are using are compatible in the body.”
The researchers
- attached aptamers to the hydrogels,
- which release bio-chemical signal-only molecules
- that draw in cancer cells.
Once attracted, the cancer cells are entrapped in the Jell-O-like substance.
What happens next is
- an oligonucleotide binds to the protein-binding site of the aptamer
- and triggers the release of anticancer drugs at the proper time.
“Once we trap the cancer cells, we can deliver anticancer drugs
- to that specific location to kill them.
This technique would help avoid the need for systemic medications that kill not only cancer cells, but normal cells as well. Systemic chemotherapy drugs
- make patients devastatingly sick and possibly
- leave behind cancer cells to wreak havoc another day
If our new technique has any side effects at all, it would be only local side
effects and not whole-body systemic side effects,” explained Prof. Wang.
The initial results of the research were published by Prof. Wang in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society in 2012. Prof. Wang also shared
the latest results of his work at the Society for Biomaterials Meeting &
Exposition in April this year.
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