BUSM study shows without immune rejection, potential of differentiated iPS cells in cell
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| credit: learn.genetics.utah.edu |
A new study from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM)
shows that tissues derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in an
experimental model were not rejected when transplanted back into genetically
identical recipients. The study, published online in Cell Stem Cell, demonstrates the potential of
utilizing iPS cells to develop cell types that could offer treatment for a wide
range of conditions, including diabetes, liver and lung diseases, without the
barrier of immune rejection. Ashleigh Boyd, DPhil, and Neil Rodrigues, DPhil,
the study's senior authors, are assistant professors of dermatology at BUSM and
researchers at the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) at Boston University
and Boston Medical Center (BMC). They also are lead investigators at the
National Institutes of Health's Center of Biomedical Research Excellence
(COBRE) at Roger Williams Medical Center, a clinical and research affiliate of
BUSM.
iPS
cells can be developed from adult cell types, such as skin or blood, by
returning them to a stem cell state using genetic manipulation. iPS cells are
capable of maturing (differentiating) into all the specific cell types in the
body, making them a powerful tool for biological research and a source of
tissues for transplantation based therapies. Given that iPS cells can be made
in a patient-specific manner, there should be great potential for them to be
transplanted back into the same patient without rejection. Yet a study
published in Nature in 2011 demonstrated that iPS cells transplanted in the
stem cell state were rejected in genetically identical recipients.
"The
Nature study provocatively suggested that tissues derived from patient-specific
iPS cells may be immunogenic after transplantation. However, it never directly
assessed the immunogenicity of the therapeutically relevant cell types that
could be utilized in regenerative medicine and transplantation," said
Rodrigues.
The
BUSM researchers evaluated this matter by taking adult cells from an
experimental model and deriving iPS cells from them. They then differentiated
the iPS cells into three cell types: neuronal (nerve); hepatocytes (liver); and
endothelial (blood vessel lining) cells. These three cell types represent each
of the three germ layers present during embryonic development -- mesoderm,
ectoderm and endoderm. Cells from these layers differentiate and ultimately
develop into the body's tissue and organ systems. Using experiments to mirror
the potential clinical use of patient-specific iPS cells in cell therapy, the
team transplanted each of the differentiated cells into a genetically identical
experimental model and found no signs of an elevated immune response or
indications of rejection.
The
study results suggest that using patient-specific iPS cells should overcome
issues of immune rejection in transplantation, which will be a significant
problem for potential embryonic stem cell-derived therapies. Immune rejection
in transplantation is treated clinically by immunosuppressive drugs but they
can have serious side-effects, including the risk of developing cancer.
"If
the use of immunosuppressive drugs can be avoided, as may be the case for
patient-specific iPS cell based therapies, it would be preferable. Our results
are very promising and future work should be directed at assessing whether
tissues derived from human iPS cells will similarly lack immunogenicity,"
said Boyd.
Source: Boston
University Medical Center
Posted by Unknown
on Monday, January 28, 2013.
Filed under
Health And Medicine
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