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Researchers have turned skin cells into blood vessel tissue to save a
mouse's wounded leg. They were able to do that simply by tapping the wound with
a chip that uses nanotechnology to inject new DNA into the cells. This step
follows a number of significant advances in techniques to turn one type of cell
into another. Scientists hope this so-called cell reprogramming can one day be
used to regenerate damaged tissue, or cure conditions such as Parkinson's
disease.
The research, published Monday in Nature Nanotechnology, combines
existing biotechnology and nanotechnology to create a new technique called
tissue nano-transfection. The researchers turned skin cells into brain cells,
in addition to demonstrating the therapeutic benefit of turning them into
vascular cells.
Maintaining blood flow to deliver nutrients around a wound is critical
for recovery, so by making more blood vessel cells, researchers found that a
mouse's wounded limb was more likely to survive. A brief electric current
causes the chip to eject DNA fragments that reprogram the cells. The particles
only enter the very top layer of cells, so L. James Lee, a biomolecular
engineer at Ohio State University and study co-author, said he was surprised to
find reprogrammed cells deep within the tissue.
"Within 24 hours after the transfection, we actually observed the
propagation of the biological functions deep inside the skin," Lee told
VOA. "So we were very surprised that it actually works for tissue."
Lee said it wasn't yet entirely clear why this was possible.
James Lee, Ph.D., left, examines a silicone chip with Junfeng Shi at The
Ohio State University College of Engineering. Lee, who led a team of engineers
who designed the chip, collaborated with Ohio State Wexner Medical Center on
this study to reprogram skin cells to become other types of cells. (Photo
courtesy of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center)
Masato Nakafuku, who studies cell reprogramming at the University of
Cincinnati and was not associated with the research, told VOA that he, too, was
surprised "to see very efficient generation of the [vascular] cells."
Nakafuku added a cautionary note: It is not clear that that tissue
nano-transfection will work on animals as large as humans, since the treatment
would have to reprogram cells much deeper in the tissue in order to be
effective. Lee told VOA he is hopeful that upcoming human trials will prove the
real-world effectiveness of tissue nano-transfection.
In theory, tissue nano-transfection should be able to turn any cell in
the body into any other cell type. That could make therapeutic applications of
cell reprogramming easier and safer, because cells would stay in the body
during reprogramming. If cells are removed from the body, reprogrammed and then
returned, they could be attacked by the immune system.