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Researchers have developed a coin-sized nanotechnology chip capable of reprogramming adult skin cells in a live animal, and transforming them into other types of cells used to heal damaged tissues, like blood vessels or neurons. According to a new study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining.
Chandan Sen, Director of Ohio State’s Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Based Therapies
In the study, Researchers described experiments where they reprogrammed live skin cells to become vascular cells in badly wounded rodent legs that lacked blood circulation. Within one week, active blood vessels showed up in the injured leg, and after another week, the lower limb was fully restored.
In laboratory trials, this technology was also shown to reprogram skin cells into neurons that were then injected into injured brains of mice, helping them recuperate from a stroke.
A video produced by the study team showed how the nanotechnology system worked. A small, coin-sized chip that is preloaded with genetic ‘programming’ material is placed on the skin and an electric charge is applied.
It takes just a fraction of a second. You simply touch the chip to the wounded area, then remove it. At that point, the cell reprogramming begins.
Chandan Sen, Director of Ohio State’s Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Based Therapies
The Ohio State Researcher noted that his team’s novel method works about 98 percent of the time and allows for the cells to grow via the patient’s own immune system, so the kind of immune suppression techniques used in transplant procedures is not necessary here.
The technology, dubbed Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), has two main features: First is a nanotechnology-based chip made to provide genetic cargo to skin cells in a live body. Second is the particular genetic cargo that converts an adult cell from one type to a different kind of cell. The code is based on the patient’s own genetic material.
An electric pulse simply activates the chip, sending the cargo into the skin cells.
It extends the concept known as gene therapy, and it has been around for quite some time. The difference with our technology is how we deliver the DNA into the cells.
James Lee, Study Author and a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Ohio State University
The procedure doesn’t call for any additional laboratory-based methods and may be carried out at the point of care. This means it could be used on the battlefield, or at the site of a car accident. The process is also non-intrusive.
“The concept is very simple,” said Lee, who had worked on similar technology in the past that was only effective on individual cells located outside the body. “As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well. In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better. So, this is the beginning, more to come.”
The success of the research project was considered a bit of a long-shot and therefore the Researchers did not use public funds, nor did they publicize their efforts.
Because the medical technology used the patient’s own cells and does not require the use of drugs, the study team said they expect human trials to begin within a year. Trials would have to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration before they could begin.
Potentially, the treatment could be available within about five years, if the human trials are successful, the Researchers said.
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LorantMatyas/ Shutterstock.com
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