In science fiction films, we now and then see how a mortally wounded man is raised to his feet, sprinkled with a magic spray from some kind of spray can. Before our eyes, his tissues are regenerated, the wounds are healed, and as a result, no trace of damage remains. It seems that scientists from the Australian University of New South Wales in the coming years will be able to create a similar system of tissue regeneration in the human body. It may not work as fast as in the movies, but its effectiveness has already been proven experimentally.
The regeneration system is somewhat similar to the method by which salamanders regrow lost limbs. It can be used to regenerate bone structure, vertebral discs, as well as other tissues and organs. Researchers see great potential in their discovery, because with the help of this technique it will be possible to once and for all change the rules of the game in favor of mankind, defeating many previously incurable and fatal diseases. The research results were published by scientists in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Professor John Pimanda, who leads the scientific project, shared the findings of his team with the readers of the magazine. The new technology allows you to reprogram bone and adipose cells, turning them into induced multipotent stem cells (iMS). Initially, the experiments were carried out on laboratory mice, and they have shown amazing results in comparison with other therapies, the effectiveness of which is either not proven at all, or extremely low. Human trials of this technology are scheduled for late 2017.
There are many types of stem cells, including embryonic ones, which form all other cells in the human body during the development of the embryo. An adult organism also has stem cells, but they are not able to regenerate any tissue, but only a certain type of it. The revolutionary nature of the new technique lies in the fact that the iMS cells obtained as a result of reprogramming are capable of restoring absolutely any tissue, while not causing terrible side effects such as the formation of tumors.
“The use of embryonic stem cells for regeneration is unacceptable because of the high risk of tumor formation. The second problem was that earlier stem cell formation techniques used viruses for the transformation process, which is also unacceptable from a medical point of view. With the help of new technology, we have managed to overcome both of these obstacles,”says one of the authors of the study, Dr. Vas Chandrakantan.
To create iMS cells, scientists seem to "turn off the memory" of bone and fat cells using an analogue of the key component of RNA and DNA 5-azacytidine (AZA) and growth factor PDGF-AB, thereby converting them into stem cells. The transformation process from start to finish takes no more than 3 weeks. After that, the resulting cells can be placed in the area of tissue damage in the human body, where they will immediately begin general repairs. In the future, this technology can solve many of the problems of modern medicine, including treating serious injuries, fatal diseases, and even reversing the aging process.
