Scientist Turn Skin Cells Directly Into Blood Cells, Bypassing Middle Pluripotent Step
On November 7, 2010 published in the Nature journals the new discovery on how turning a sing human skin cell into a blood cell bypassing the middle pluripotent step by scientists at McMaster University. The pluripotent stem cell is able to produce all the different cell types of an organism, but not develop into a complete organism and can make many other types of human cells. From turning skin cell to blood cell it would not require the middle step of changing a skin stem cell into a pluripotent stem cell and then turning that into a blood stem cell. Bypassing the pluripotent step this can avoid many safety issues, increases efficiency, and can produce adult-type blood cells instead of fetal blood cells. To make sure when turning skin cells into blood cells was accurate scientist over two years replicated it several times for both young and old people providing it that it works for any age.
John Kelton, a hematologist: a doctor who specializes in diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs says, “The Bhatia research effort is building on significant findings in recent years, which have shown that human skin cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent cells that have the potential to become all cell types.” This shows that from resent research and the past years have build and brought on a more efficient and easier way of making blood cells because now they can now into any type of cell.
John Kelton says, “The pioneering findings published today are the first to demonstrate that human skin cells can be directly converted into blood cells, via a programming process that bypasses the pluripotent stage. Producing blood from a patients own skin cells, has the potential of making bone marrow transplant HLA matching and paucity of dons a thing of the past.” This illustrates how difficult procedures such as bone marrow transplant that can affect the donor and patient are very dangerous and this now can be replace because of the tremendous discovery they made.
I selected this article because this shows a way that can change humans forever. For one, people won’t have to go thorough the procedure of bone narrow transfusions. Also in the future when people need blood for surgery like cancer, anemia, or other blood conditions the patient will be able to have blood created from their own patch of skin ant that can help provide blood transfusions. Future research can go toward the effectiveness of the procedure, if this procedure has a positive or negative effect on the patient, and the different types of ways this can help the patient. They say that clinical trial that can test this can start as soon as 2012.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101107202144.htm
Cancer Breakthrough in New Blood Cell Source?
Human skin cells have turned into human bloods cells. This research can have a huge effect on patients who have disease in their blood. Then it can lead treatment of other tissues in the body. ‘There is an incredible need clinically to generate red blood cells,” said Mick Bhatia, a scientist at McMaster University in Canada and co-author of the study in the journal Nature. “But I think it will also expand the idea that skin cells could be directly turned into other cell types.” This means that maybe one skin cells can be turned into any other kind of cell that has been deprived of by a disease. An experiment was conducted to create these blood cells. A virus was introduced to the skin cells of several volunteers; this virus injected a gene called OCT4. This gene encodes a protein to activate other genes so that different cells can be made. Then, it is bathed with cytokines to make the transformation into blood cells. The blood cells acted as regular adult blood cells. The blood cells contained all classes of blood.
“Like everyone else, we are pretty excited about this result,” said Williams. “It could have a tremendous impact on cancer patients, particularly those with leukemia, lymphoma or undergoing chemotherapy”.This is a great discovery for the patients with leukemia or lymphoma having chemotherapy. In the future patients can use this as an extra source of blood because of the chemotherapy devastates things to a patient’s blood. This would help the patients recover quickly from the chemotherapy. This won’t be used on patients for at least several years.
Normal Human Genetics May Influence Cancer Growth
The article I chose to do my current event on talks about how normal human genetics or the normal human traits that we receive may have an impact on the growth of cancer or the disease in which there is an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. One of the things that are talked about in this article is how changes in tumors or abnormal growth of body tissues are influenced when people develop cancer which is once again the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the human body. The main core idea of this article is that our own original genetic or inherited background impacts the kinds of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) changes that occur within tumor cells as cancer (uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells) begins to gradually take its toll. They find that this new discovery may help find a way to inform people about who is at great risk for cancer and who is not. These teams of researchers have also found that this new discovery in the field of genetics may also help identify or inform normal, healthy human beings about their risks of getting cancer. During their extensive research process, they found that a genetic change or a change in the inherited traits was picked out in tumors from the same individual.
The article, “Normal Human Genetics May Influence Cancer Growth,” is interesting because I have never heard of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) being one of the causes that may lead to cancer until after reading this article. In my opinion, future research should be continued to see exactly how cancer impacts the person’s life after it has gone through various changes in DNA. Based on this article, I have learned that the genes that we as humans are born with can lead to deadly cancer such as tumor cancer and the odds of any person getting cancer is high because of this new discovery.
There are several things that I found in this article that were indeed very important. One quote that I found that was really important in this article is, “Overall,” Toland says, “our findings provide strong evidence that an individual’s genetic background plays a key role in driving the changes that occur in tumors during cancer development.” This one quote basically sums up the entire meaning of the article. It is saying that various changes in DNA are a possibility of a leading cause of cancer. Another quote that I found that was interesting was, “Toland and her collaborators analyzed 222 SCC tumors from 135 organ transplant recipients, who as a group are 65 to 250 times more likely to develop SCC than people in the general population.” This experiment shows that because of changes in DNA in this specific number of tumors, these people will develop SCC more than people in the general population would.
Bibliography: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101110161933.htm
APA Format: Ohio State University Medical Center (2010, November 10). Normal human genetics may influence cancer growth, too. ScienceDaily.
BY: SAJAN PATEL PERIOD: 10 ACADEMIC BIOLOGY
They Fetch, They Roll Over, They Aid Tumor Research
The common procedure to remove brain tumors in humans can now be used for canines. Researchers are trying to find a cure for Cushing’s disease – which is, in this case, a tumor in the pituitary gland that produces more ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). ACTH causes high levels of cortisol. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is produced in the adrenal gland.
Scientists conducted experiments on nine dogs and one cat, that would’ve died if they were not treated. All ten animals had Cushings Disease.
“The canine tissue samples are enabling him and his colleagues to develop drugs to one day treat Cushing’s disease in both humans and dogs.”
This quote explains how the canine tissue effects the cure of Cushing’s Disease.
Statistics show that one in a million humans are diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease. Ann 100,000 dogs are diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease every year.Since only one in a million humans are diagnosed with this disease, it was hard for scientists do conduct studies for the cure.
“We’re using a human procedure in animals, and using their tissue to study the disease.”
This quote was spoken by Dr. Adam Mamelak, who is a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Mamelak was the one who had taught this technique to other veterinarians.
In the quote above, they are basically saying that they have now came up with a process where they use the canine tissue samples to find our more about the disease.The procedure they conducted was where they cut a hole at the back of the dog’s mouth. Through this hole they were able to reach the skull and the base of the brain. Surgeons used a magnification of 12x to get a clear visual of the operating field.
Then they look forward to making the drugs needed to one day cure Cushing’s disease in both humans and canines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/science/26obdog.html?_r=1&ref=science
BHANOO, SINDYA N.. “Brain Surgery on Dogs Aids Study of Cushingâs Disease â Observatory – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/science/26obdog.html?_r=1&ref=science>.
Blasting Brains with Ultrasound
In the United States, the leading causes of death are heart disease and cancer. Following close behind, in third place, with 137,119 deaths reported in 2006, are strokes (cerebrovascular diseases)[1]. Cerbro refers to the brain, vascular refers the blood vessels and arteries. A stroke is caused when either a blood clot or a fatty deposit (usually the result of Atherosclerosis) blocks the flow of blood in the vessels and arteries leading to the brain therefore, depriving the brain of oxygen.
The immediate treatments for such a blockage are currently either drugs which attempt to either thin the blood or minimize the plaque build up or an invasive surgery to remove the actual clot. As one can imagine, when dealing with the brain, more often than not these surgeries prove too risky and can not be performed. However, doctors have recently discovered a new way to blast these clots to smithereens without even breaking the skin. They suggest that by using an ultrasound and sending ultrasound waves through your brain, one can hone in on the clot and basically rattle it to pieces in less than a minute.
Doctors are currently in clinical trials testing this procedure on animals and human cadavers. They hope it will be approved by 2011.
[1] “FASTSTATS – Leading Causes of Death.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., 31 Dec. 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. nchs/FASTATS/lcod.htm>.
Beyond the Walls in Biology 