Demonstrating Genetically Corrected Stem Cells as a Therapy

This demonstrated technology platform has wide-ranging uses beyond muscular dystrophy. The ability to generate altered versions of a patient's own stem cell populations and then deliver them as needed could be a useful therapy for many conditions: "scientists have turned muscular dystrophy patients' fibroblast cells (common cells found in connective tissue) into stem cells and then differentiated them into muscle precursor cells. The muscle cells were then genetically modified and transplanted into mice. ... In this study, scientists focused on genetically modifying a type of cell called a mesoangioblast, which is derived from blood vessels and has been shown in previous studies to have potential in treating muscular dystrophy. However, the authors found that they could not get a sufficient number of mesoangioblasts from patients with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy because the muscles of the patients were depleted of these cells. Instead, scientists in this study 'reprogrammed' adult cells from patients with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy into stem cells and were able to induce them to differentiate into mesoangioblast-like cells. After these 'progenitor' cells were genetically corrected using a viral vector, they were injected into mice with muscular dystrophy, where they homed-in on damaged muscle fibres. The researchers also showed that when the same muscle progenitor cells were derived from mice the transplanted cells strengthened damaged muscle and enabled the dystrophic mice to run for longer on a treadmill than dystrophic mice that did not receive the cells."

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120627142514.htm

Comments

I wonder if your researchers, in their efforts to cure the dystrophic mice had noted if the redifferentiated cells were also rejuvenated cells with a reset cellular phisiology?

I should'nt comment without first thanking you for all the really excellent work you do here. I have enjoyed your work for years and am wondering if you would comment on a great article I found in "Genes and Development" that seems to describe the next step along this iPSC anti aging development thread.

The article is titled "Rejuvenating senescent and centenarian human cells by reprogramming through the pluripotent state" Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press AND freely available here
http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/25/21/2248.full.html
The introduction states:
"Here we demonstrate that a specific six-factor gene cocktail causes efficient reversing of cellular senescence and reprogramming into iPSCs and that reprogrammed iPSCs generated from senescent and centenarian fibroblasts are indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Finally, we demonstrate that redifferentiation led to rejuvenated cells with a reset cellular physiology, defining a new paradigm for cell rejuvenation."

To me that article seems to describe a major battle won in the war on aging.

Posted by: g at June 30th, 2012 6:05 PM
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