Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Use Virus To Reprogram Adult Cells In Mice
n2hightech writes "Harvard University scientists figured out how to activate a trio of dormant genes that commanded non-insulin producing pancreas cells to switch to the Beta type insulin producing cells. The method uses an engineered virus to infect the cells and deliver special proteins that activate the dormant genes. This technology has the potential to make all stem cell based methods obsolete because it does not pose the risk of rejection and cancer associated with stem cells. A simple injection into the area where cells need to be reprogrammed is all that is required." Gospodin adds a link to coverage at the Washington Post.
How could you not highlight the most important implication! It may now be possible to inject different body parts and grow genitals on all sorts of different parts of the body! Double penetration!? Try Quadruple! See that man - he's a dickhead. No really, we injected his head and there is now a penis growing out of his scalp! I propose all politicians be injected in the scalp.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I just watched that durned movie recently, and now this? :)
I did research in this field as far back as '01! Using viruses to induce genetic changes is neither novel or new.
The biggest challenge isn't engineering the genes you want to inject or getting the virus, or using the virus as a transport for those genes. Instead the hardest part is by far the delivery - which the author so callously disregards as being trivial and why it will replace stem cells.
Its extremely difficult to achieve targeted delivery of the virus and even more so for a diffuse dissemination of the virus as to coat multiple cells.
So yea it works, it has worked in animals due to their diminutive size. However, it is difficult, if not impossible to ever implement it in humans - mice yes, humans no.
If this gets reported on slashdot so should the dozens of similar articles that get published yearly with similar procedures for various other congenital conditions - neurological, muscular etc.
Dude here.
" A simple injection into the area where cells need to be reprogrammed is all that is required.""
A jab into the calf with an umbrella should do it.
For starters, they didn't use pluripotent cells, but rather adult cells. Next, no viruses were used, but rather relatively safe proteins. Finally, this was in live mice rather than the typical test tubes.
I think what we'll see in the decades to come is a clear roadmap of the cellular signals that differentiate cells from one another. This is the basis of more practical technologies such as organ replacement and repair, which has a good chance of extending longevity.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature07314.html
This is absurd, I had to go through three different links to find it.
In case any of you were wondering, the mysterious three genes they used were the transcription factors "Ngn3 (also known as Neurog3) Pdx1 and Mafa," which are NOT the same as the induced pluripotent stem cell magic transcription factors. In those cases I think it was Oct4, Nanog, and c-myc.
Anyway, I find it interesting that an Ngn was used, I thought those caused neuronal differentiation.
I hope it doesn't cause cancer. Pancreas cancers are the worst killers, because they are very hard to operate.
Tag this "supermice". Once again, advances in super mouse research have delivered another break through to further separate man from mouse. As no one was watching, smarter, strong, custom tailored mice one day took over the world...
20th century Marxism is not progress...
for people that keep their pancreas in a mouse
It's clear they're using a viral capsule for delivery - from a virus that normally targets the cell type the want to transform.
But I'm curious as to what they're delivering:
1) The transcription regulatory proteins?
2) Messenger RNA coding for the proteins (resulting in limited production of the proteins until the RNA "times out").
3) DNA (or RNA plus a RNA-directed DNA polymerase) to add new code to the cell iteslf?
4) A modified virus deleting most of the virus code and adding code for the proteins?
I'd be happy with 1) or 2). Either looks ideal. (2 looks especially easy to generalize, using any appropriate RNA virus to supply a capsule aimed at a suitable target and stringing RNA for the proteins together with the virus' "pack-me-up" tag and some "cut me here" introns). Just make sure you've sorted out real viral DNA (say, by making just the desired proteins in e-coli and assembling things after purification).
3) and 4) have some nasty downsides.
Perhaps someone with access to the article can tell us which it is, please?
If the answer is 1) or 2) I'll do a happy dance. B-)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
If they can do this, then, it's a matter of time for someone to promote "pecker" growth :P And maybe, this time, with this, we can also make sure that men have enough blood supply to use BOTH heads properly :P :P :P
phone's ringing, dude