Most of us take for granted what
we look like, how our bodies work, and at the same time assume that things will
be the same tomorrow. Unfortunately for numerous patients suffering from
diseases such as microtia this isn’t the case.
Either born with abnormalities to their cartilaginous tissue, or from a
debilitating disease there are many people who suffer from damage to their
nose, ears, or other cartilage based organ. This poses many problems for those
afflicted, from loss of function to social and mental distress. Some cancer
surgeries also result in a loss of, or damage to facial cartilaginous
structures. This can be incredibly demoralizing for someone who is fighting for
his or her life. Fortunately with new scientific discoveries it doesn’t need to
be this way forever.
A recent article in BBC news
describes a new technique by which doctors are able to take adipose tissue from
a patient, and then using chondrogenic
differentiation transform the fat cell into a stem cell. From there they
can regrow the cartilaginous tissue using a nano-sized scaffold to guide its
growth. The eventual result is a cartilage structure of a predetermined size
and shape. This structure can then be surgically implanted into the patient.
The ultimate goal of this procedure would be to encourage the structure to
continue to grow so that it matches pace with the host body and ensures that no
more surgeries are needed.
While similar cartilage structure
creations do exist already they are typically harvested from a source on the
body (eg. the ribcage) and then sculpted to look like the appropriate organ
before being surgically implanted. At which point the structure does not
continue to grow, requiring the patient to undergo multiple surgeries simply to
keep a functioning and similarly sized organ. Furthermore each successive
surgery requires a new structure, so more cartilage needs to be removed from
the ribs – where it does not grow back – before it can once again be sculpted
into the required shape.
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While this use of adipose-derived
stem cell is limited to a fairly specific niche it nonetheless paves the way
for future advances of this technique. At this point researches have shown that
it is possible and have succeeded in growing a cartilage scaffold, however
before they can begin implanting them into human subjects they need to first
verify that the procedure is truly as safe as it sounds. One of the benefits of
using adipose derived stem cells is the negligible risk of rejection from the
host body, as the stem cells originated from the same person. This combined
with numerous successes using stem cells from other sources (eg. bone marrow)
have scientists feeling optimistic about this new procedure.
Posted by Kirk MacKinnon (5)
This was a great read Kirk. There has been a lot of news about stem cell research lately, not just in scientific papers either. I read about a new technique that was developed which stresses somatic cells into reverting to stem cells. These stem cells have many of the same properties as embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical issues. As with the technique described in this article the use of stem cells seems to be much more practical than ever. Hopefully applications of stem cell treatments are successful and encourage other scientists to perform research in this field.
ReplyDeletePosted by Tim Daly
It's amazing to see all the different aspects in which they can be used. This isn't quite the same as treating alzheimer's or curing cancer etc, but being able to give someone a new ear with a relatively simple surgery? Thats incredible. Removing the ethical hurdles for this research has opened so many new doors.
DeletePosted by Kirk MacKinnon
Kirk, the work being discussed in this article is inspiring! The rate of discovery in the medical field is impressive now a days. I wanted to ask, what exactly is done to get the structure to grow on pace with the rest of the body?
ReplyDeleteTaylor Schille
I'm actually not entirely sure. In the article they talk to one of the surgeons and he expresses his hope that it will continue to grow once implanted in a patient. However they have yet to implant in a human so they don't seem to know for sure if it will work. In the journal they mention that "after CAM-grafting, bionanoscaffolds were rapidly surrounded by blood vessels without any apparent negative reaction and erythrocytes of host origin were detected inside the scaffold, suggesting invasion from some capillaries." which would seem to imply that as long as there is a blood source the scaffold should act as normal cartilage tissue and continue growing. Aside from that I can't find any mention of any special treatments or extra procedures being required.
DeletePosted by Kirk MacKinnon
Interesting- I hadn't even heard of this diseases prior to reading this article. I can imagine, however, that this is an enormous advancement for it's sufferers. Stem cell research has come such a long way and only continues to advance. As you said, the best part is that the cells are coming from the same DNA as the host so rejection is almost irrelevant. Nice post, good read.
ReplyDeletePosted by Kevin Barisano
Thanks Kevin. I have to admit I'm really excited to see all the advances that are going to happen within the next decade.
DeletePosted by Kirk MacKinnon