A Comparatively Simple Approach to Improve Engraftment of Transplanted Cells

The issue with first generation cell therapies for regenerative medicine is that transplanted cells near entirely fail to engraft into tissue. There are exceptions, but for the most part, the cells used in therapy die rather than take up productive work to enhance tissue function. Where benefits occur, they are mediated by the signals secreted by the transplanted cells in the brief period they remain alive. Mesenchymal stem cell therapies that reduce chronic inflammation for some period of time are an example of the type. They are good at that outcome of reduced inflammation, but highly unreliable when it comes to any other desired result, such as increased regeneration. Thus an important goal in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering circles is to solve the issue of engraftment, and enable the reliable delivery of cells that survive to participate in improving tissue function. Numerous strategies have been tried, with varying degrees of success. The best to date is to provide cells with a surrounding biodegradable scaffold that incorporates supporting nutrients and signals. This can work quite well when cells are allowed to form a pseudo-normal tissue like structure prior to transplantation, for example in heart patches or retina patches. The research noted here offers quite a different and much simpler strategy to improve engraftment rates, the removal of lower quality cells from the cell population created for transplantation. Biomedical engineers bel...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs