Stem cells have held great promise for regenerative medicine for years. In the last decade, several studies have shown that this type of cell, which in Spanish is called “stem cell” due to its ability to give rise to a variety of different cell types, can be applied in regenerative medicine for diseases such as muscular and nervous system disorders, among others. Stem cell researchers and pioneers Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka received the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for this idea. However, one of the main limitations in the application of these cellular therapies is the quality of the stem cells that can be generated in the laboratory, which prevents their use for therapeutic purposes.
Now, a team from the Cell Division and the Cancer Group of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), led by researcher Marcos Malumbres, have developed a new, simple and rapid technology that improves the in vitro and in vivo potential of stem cells to differentiate into adult cells. The research results will be published this week in The EMBO Journal.
“In recent years, several protocols have been proposed to obtain laboratory reprogrammed stem cells from adult cells, but very few to improve the cells we already have. The method we developed can significantly increase the quality of stem cells obtained by any other protocol, thus favoring the efficiency of the production of specialized cell types, “says María Salazar-Roa, CNIO researcher, first author of the article and corresponding co-author.
In this study, the researchers identified an RNA sequence, called microRNA 203, that is in the early embryonic stages, before the embryo implants in the uterus and when stem cells still have their full capacity to generate all tissues. . When they added this molecule to stem cells in the laboratory, they found that the cells’ ability to convert to other cell types was significantly improved.
To corroborate this, they used stem cells of human and murine origin, and of genetically modified mice. “The results were spectacular, both in mouse cells and in human cells. The application of this microRNA for only five days increases the potential of stem cells in all the scenarios we tested and improves their ability to become other specialized cells, including months after being in contact with the microRNA, “says Salazar-Roa.
According to the study, the cells modified by this new protocol are more efficient in generating functional heart cells, opening the door to an improved generation of different cell types necessary for the treatment of degenerative diseases.
Malumbres, head of the CNIO’s Cell and Cancer Division Group, says: “To bring this asset to the clinic, collaboration with laboratories or companies that want to exploit this technology in each specific case is now necessary.”
In this context, Salazar-Roa recently participated, in close collaboration with the CNIO’s Innovation team, in innovation programs such as IDEA2 Global of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and CaixaImpulse of the “La Caixa” Foundation, from which it also They obtained financing to start the development of this technology.
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Salazar-Roa et al., Transient exposure to miR-203 improves the differentiation capacity of established pluripotent stem cells. EMBO J (2020). DOI: 10.15252 / embj.2019104324
Provided by the National Cancer Research Center of Spain
Citation: The research team develops technology to improve the effectiveness of stem cells in regenerative medicine (2020, July 2) retrieved on July 3, 2020 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-team- technology-effectiveness-stem-cells.html
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