Scientists believe their new innovation could open doors to massive medical achievements.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have taken a major step forward in regenerative medicine through the creation of synthetic "cellular glue" that can help cells within the human body bond with one another. Scientists believe that their new innovative technique could one-day open doors to massive medical achievements, like building organs in a lab for transplantation and reconstructing nerves that have been damaged beyond the reach of standard surgical repair.
"We were able to engineer cells in a manner that allows us to control which cells they interact with, and also to control the nature of that interaction," said senior study author Wendell Lim. "This opens the door to building novel structures like tissues and organs," he added.
According to the study, published by the University of California, the team basically engineered a set of synthetic molecules that can be manipulated to persuade cells within the human body to bond together. These molecules together constitute the so-called "cellular glue" and act like adhesive molecules naturally found in and around cells that involuntarily dictate the way our tissues, nerves and organs are structured and anchored together. Only in this case, scientists can voluntarily control the cells with the help of their latest innovation.
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Adam Stevens, the first author of the paper, explained, "The properties of a tissue, like your skin for example, are determined in large part by how the different cells are organised within it. We're devising ways to control this organisation of cells, which is central to being able to synthesize tissues with the properties we want them to have."
Therefore, the researchers believe that they could eventually use the "cellular glue" as a viable mechanism to mend patients' wounds, grow nerves otherwise deemed destroyed and potentially even work toward regenerating diseased lungs, livers and other vital organs.
The team had a two-part approach to the design of the adhesion molecules, which share the fundamental design principles of natural adhesion molecules in the body. The first part of the molecule is extracellular, which acts as a receptor on the outside of the cell and determines which other cells it will interact with. The second part is intracellular, which determines the strength and interaction. This makes it possible to "tune" the interaction that is mediated by the extracellular part.
In the study, researchers explained that the two parts can be mixed and matched in a modular fashion, creating an array of customised cells that bond in different ways across the spectrum of cell types.
"Our work reveals a flexible molecular adhesion code that determines which cells will interact, and in what way. Now that we are starting to understand it, we can harness this code to direct how cells assemble into tissues and organs. These tools could be really transformative," Adam Stevens said.