{"id":27561,"date":"2010-08-06T23:04:07","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T23:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/from-connective-tissue-cells-to-heart-cells-with-no-stops-in-between-80beats\/"},"modified":"2010-08-06T23:04:07","modified_gmt":"2010-08-06T23:04:07","slug":"from-connective-tissue-cells-to-heart-cells-with-no-stops-in-between-80beats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/astronomy\/from-connective-tissue-cells-to-heart-cells-with-no-stops-in-between-80beats.php","title":{"rendered":"From Connective-Tissue Cells to Heart Cells With No Stops In Between | 80beats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fibroblasts\"<\/a>In January, we discussed<\/a> a biotech first–a transformation from skin cell to brain cell, without reverting to a more mutable stem cell in between. Today a paper<\/a> in the journal Cell<\/em> describes a similar direct transformation in mice, from a type of structural cell called a fibroblast to heart cells. If one day scientists can entice human cells to make a similar “direct conversion,” the researchers believe this metamorphosis may prove one way to fix heart damage that’s irreparable under the current state of medicine.<\/p>

The study’s authors at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease at the University of California, San Francisco,<\/span> once attempted to use stem cells for heart repair with little success, Nature News<\/em> reports<\/a>. Though the stem cells quickly turned into the beating variety, called cardiomyocytes, they remained feeble, never transforming into the strongly beating muscle cells of a healthy heart.<\/span><\/p>

“I don’t know that this [direct conversion] will entirely replace stem cells,” says Deepak Srivastava [lead author on the study]… “But it will offer another strategy that might remove some of the concerns of using stem cells.” [Nature News<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>

<\/span>The stem cell failure spurred the team to study the <\/span>cardiomyocytes in more detail, searching for proteins that activate the genes responsible for making<\/span> cardiomyocytes in mice embryos. They found three essential proteins and their associated genes: <\/span>Gata4, Mef2c, and Tbx5. After activating these genes in adult fibroblasts and implanting them back into the mice, within a day, the cells started to transform into the coveted <\/span>cardiomyocytes. Eventually 20 percent converted.
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“Scientists have tried for 20 years to convert nonmuscle cells into heart muscle, but it turns out we just needed the right combination of genes at the right dose,” [study coauthor Masaki] <\/span>Ieda, now at the Keio University School of Medicine in Japan<\/a>, said in a statement. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>

Though Srivastava cautions that researchers must first show that human fibroblasts can use the same proteins to make the switch, he told<\/a> The Telegraph<\/em> that instead of removing cells, modifying them, and reintroducing them, as his team did in the mouse study, they might instead find a way to activate the conversion genes using a medication added through a tube, called a stent, in the coronary artery:<\/p>

“It is ambitious, but not unreasonable, to imagine being ready for a clinical trial in the next five years.” [The Telegraph<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>

Related content:
80beats: A Biotech Magic Trick: Skin Cells Transformed Directly Into Brain Cells<\/a>
80beats: One Step Closer To Embryo-Free (And Controversy-Free) Stem Cells<\/a>
80beats: A Safer Way to Transform Skin Cells Into Stem Cells Brings Medical Trials Closer<\/a>
80beats: Nanoparticles + Stem Cells = Faster Healing Wounds<\/a>
80beats: Liposuction Leftovers Are a Stem Cell Bonanza<\/a><\/p>

Image:Wikimedia \/ SubtleGuest<\/a><\/em><\/p>

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In January, we discussed a biotech first–a transformation from skin cell to brain cell, without reverting to a more mutable stem cell in between. Today a paper in the journal Cell describes a similar direct transformation in mice, from a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}