Towards Universal Cell Lines and Tissues Grown from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

There is an enormous difference in logistics and cost between cell therapies that must use a patient's own cells and cell therapies that arise from a single universal cell line that can be used in any patient. While in principle it is perfectly possible to reprogram a patient's cells into induced pluripotent stem cells, differentiate those cells into the desired cell type, and then even grow functional organoids, that all takes a lot of time and effort, and is as yet far from reliable. It would be much cheaper and much faster to have a factory producing cell lines and organs that can be universally used. When organs and other large tissue sections can be reliably grown from cells in the laboratory, this point will also apply there. Given that, it is interesting to see signs of progress towards the production of induced pluripotent stem cells that lack the features that would cause a recipient immune system to attack them, but can nonetheless survive in the body. Achieving this goal is the basis for a much more cost-effective regenerative medicine and tissue engineering industry. The immune system is unforgiving. It's programmed to eradicate anything it perceives as alien, which protects the body against infectious agents and other invaders that could wreak havoc if given free rein. But this also means that transplanted organs, tissues or cells are seen as a potentially dangerous foreign incursion, which invariably provokes a vigorous immune response leading t...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs