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Human blood cells can be directly reprogrammed into neural stem cells
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- jjendoplasm 8y agoThis has been around for quite some time. 2007 publication by Yamanaka, and then 2012 by Weissman/Wernig et all.
- monocasa 8y agoI thought blood cells shed their nucleus?
- saagarjha 8y agoRed blood cells do. Leukocytes are nucleated.
- kposehn 8y agoIt looks like this builds on the 2007 and 2012 publications. > Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the stem cell institute HI-STEM* in Heidelberg have succeeded for the first time in directly reprogramming human blood cells into a previously unknown type of neural stem cell. These induced stem cells are similar to those that occur during the early embryonic development of the central nervous system. They can be modified and multiplied indefinitely in the culture dish and can represent an important basis for the development of regenerative therapies.
- leowoo91 8y agoWhat happens to the telomeres?
- rubatuga 8y agoI wouldn't worry too much, neurons don't divide indefinitely.
- eyeball 8y agoWhen can I inject this and fix my stroke? Hurry please. :)
- steelframe 8y agoI'd caution against randomly re-wiring chunks of your CNS. There's probably a very good reason why we don't naturally do that.
- tormeh 8y agoDepends. Could be good long term, I suppose, but might require a long hospital visit even in the case of a good outcome. Enough for evolution to prune it.
- zupa-hu 8y agoI'd caution against randomly flying across cities. There's probably a very good reason why we don't naturally do that. Just pointing out that this is a weak argument.
- jfoutz 8y agoYou might wait for a few flights over an empty field first though.
- kakarot 8y agoMany people were injured or killed trying to invent flying machines until we finally got it right.
- grogenaut 8y agoMany many people have already died of brains issues. On the order of 5% of everyone who has lived ever. Esp in the last 2 centuries which from some counts is more than ever lived before. Your simile would be apt if people not getting to the other side of the city were dying or having greatly decreased quality of life (alzheimers, stroke).
- 8y ago
- techbio 8y agoIs this something that occurs naturally? As in, are there normal pathways by which cells change their types in beneficial ways?
- glibgil 8y agoYes, it happens all the time, but at a low enough rate that for a long time it wasn’t observed * who knows if it is beneficial
- giardini 8y agoAn analogous manifestation can be triggered by drilling holes in the kneecap allowing blood to move into damaged cartilage (say, below a kneecap). In the new environment, some of the red blood cells apparently transform into cartilagenous cells and repair the cartilage. Some doctors in sports physiology were doing this decades ago. No significant pressure can be put on the knee for 3-6 months but the solution was well worth it to the individual with whom I spoke. So it seems that it is likely a natural/normal method of repair although it may be very slow w/o some prompting (drilling the holes, in this example). A newer technique that sounds very similar but more general is P.R.P. (Platelet Rich Plasma) therapy: New Yorker: "The Blood Injections That Might Transform Orthopedics"(2013) https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-blood-injections-that-might-transform-orthopedics https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-bloo...
- programmingyes 8y agoBut do human blood cells practice TDD?
- JackStriker 8y agoI was directed to ask these questions here. Perhaps someone can help. >They can be modified and multiplied indefinitely in the culture dish What conditions exist within a culture that allow stem cells (or other cells) to replicate without regard for the Hayflick limit? I was totally unaware that we had extended it (not defeated it) in any life more complex than a worm. And on the topic of the Hayflick limit… >What is special about the reprogrammed cells of the Heidelberg researchers is that they are a homogeneous cell type that resembles a stage of neural stem cells that occurs during the embryonic development of the nervous system. Are they saying that the stem cells can be reprogrammed into cells that more greatly resemble younger human cells, or that they're actually being made into scientifically-defined younger cells? How is that even possible? I was under the impression that all cloned cells retained their telomerase length. As such, any clone (or cloned tissue) made from them isn't going to be any more "youthful" than the original. If the case is that an entirely cloned organism is made, it will only a life expectancy as long as the original has LEFT to live–since the telomere isn't restored to its original length. I guess they wouldn't call it a "regenerative" therapy if they hadn't fixed the telomere length problem in the cloned cells, but… if they have, isn't that sort of the single biggest fucking deal in human history? Isn't this the first time that human cells have been genuinely restored to youth, and could therefore be reapplied into a person to extend his life? And, thereafter, be the gateway into figuring out how to simply restore the DNA of cells in the body without excision and replacement? Thanks for any answers!
- JackStriker 8y agoOh dear, I may have double posted. Sorry if I did.
- Misker 8y agoI wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. Just dropping in to say that KS for asking those questions, as I didn't even know of the Hayflick limit before. I now have more questions.
- fanzhang 8y agoMany types of human-cells don't abide by the classic Hayflick limit, including HeLa cells, cancer cells, and gametes. This brings up the point: if the cells can indeed divide indefinitely, which even stem cells cannot, then aren't these effectively cancer cells / made cancerified? Perhaps this was done on purpose independently to make the cell culture easier to work with, but that should have been mentioned.
- disabled 8y agoThis is very uplifting news! This makes me feel very hopeful about the future, too. I personally have 2 rare autoimmune neurological diseases that affect my peripheral nervous system. One of them is very rare, and there is only case reports and cohorts of it, at best, in the medical literature. There will likely never be an FDA-approved treatment for what I have, and this is why precision medicine needs to exist formally, with proper regulation via government. Unfortunately, the United States government has not been adapting, in a progressive way, to the changing times, with respect to emerging technologies, in general. This sounds strange, but the lack of a reforming/progressive government is the greatest threat to my well being with rare neurological diseases and being disabled. I hope that therapies and cures can come sooner than later for everyone. I also hope these therapies are not prohibitively expensive or inaccessible.
- corpMaverick 8y agoWould this be an argument against umbilical cord banks ?