Weapon-X Mice

Bob Vila's Hammer writes "New Scientist has this article about a new breed of mice created in a lab. They have the ability to heal wounds very effectively as they have been genetically engineered to produce large amounts of a protein called angiopoietin-related growth factor. This AGF was found to be in high concentrations at the site of wounds and is expecting further study to ascertain its full potential use in treatments for skin disorders and diseases in humans."

Comments

Re:Curious...

[ravenousbugblatter]

Bob Villa - AGF has nothing to do with allergies, which are essentially a hyperactive immune response to a foreign antigen. So you'll have to keep waiting and taking antihistamines and getting steroid shots when you eat the wrong thing...:~(

I would be willing to bet that scarring is minimal (with small injuries) as scar tissue is different than normal skin. This could potentially be a very lucrative drug target and I'll bet that big pharma will be doing some studies of their own soon. It'll be interesting to see what the result of the knockout study is...my bet is that it's embryonic lethal (loss of the gene during embryonic development causes the fetal mice to be non-viable).

don't you mean wolverine/logan?

[portscan]

I am pretty sure that Weapon-X was the name given to Wolverine by the research facility that bonded the adamantium to his skeleton. The healing factor is one of his natural mutant abilities (and, in fact, is what allowed him to survive the adamantium bonding process). So, unless they've found a way to do that (which is what I first thought after reading the headline), it would just be Wolverine.

Re:don't you mean wolverine/logan?

[Bob Vila's Hammer]

I was aware of the discrepancy. I was going to name the story Wolverine Mice but just decided on Weapon-X instead.

Wolverine Mice naturally depicts a mouse with terrific claws, ragged teeth, and a terrible temper (the characteristics of a cross-breed: mouse and wolverine - impossible).

Weapon-X Mice sounds like a project or experiment - which is what produced this breed and one that still hints at the mutant healing factor that the comic character Wolverine uses.