close this window
The Non-Stick Stem Cell?
Certain stem cells, coated with a material known popularly as Teflon, have been shown to be delivered to their destination in the body without triggering an immune response.
In a study that has implications for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes and the successful transferring of stem cells, researchers have shown in mice that transplanted pancreatic precursor cells don’t come under attack from the immune system when encased in polytetrafluorethylene (also known as PTFE, or by its DuPont brand name, Teflon).
The study, by scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, appears online in the journal Transplantation. While Type 1 diabetes relies on an autoimmune response that kills insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, the research team showed that the PTFE-coated precursor cells, after transplantation, grew into functional cells, meaning they proved responsive to glucose and could control blood sugar levels.
The use of these un-differentiated precursor cells, as opposed to cells already differentiated into specific types, also improved the transplant’s success rate.
“The results exceeded our expectations,” said Pamela Itkin-Ansari, assistant adjunct professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Burnham, in a press release announcing the study. “We thought that T-cells, although unable to penetrate the device, would cluster around it. But we found no evidence of an active immune response, suggesting that the cells in the device were invisible to the immune system.”
Two different mouse models were used in the study. One research team inserted mouse islet cells into other mice to show that the cells, encapsulated in PTFE, were protected from the immune system. Next, human cells coated in PTFE were transplanted into immunodeficient mice in an effort to compare how both mature pancreatic cells (already differentiated) and precursor cells fared inside the device.
The findings of Itkin-Ansari’s research team — that transplanted cells can become fully functional beta or pancreatic cells —could point to a new method for transplanting stem cell-derived tissue. One of the foremost obstacles to cell transplantation therapy for diabetes is the need to suppress the autoimmune response for an extended period of time — usually via drugs, which can entail health risks.
While it may seem strange, at first glance, that the same stuff coating your frying pan could lead to a stem cell breakthrough, PTFE — which is very nonreactive chemically and an excellent lubricant — has a long history in medical research and treatment. It is used in vascular grafts, sutures, bone replacement procedures and in many kinds of surgical implants.
Sign up for our free e-newsletter.
Are you on Facebook? Become our fan.
word on the street
more in this section
Ritalin Can Wake the Brain From Anesthesia
More Reasons Not to Skip Your Broccoli
Listening for the Key to Reverse Aging
Science Comes to the Rescue of Lab Rats
Teaching an Old Immune System New Tricks
Turning Off Huntington’s Disease
Attacking Breast Cancer in its Heel
Teen Steroid Use Suppresses Submissiveness
(Wheel) Running Addictions Away
Rats and That Vision Thing
also by this author
Matt PalmquistA graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Matt Palmquist, a former Miller-McCune staff writer, began his career at daily ne...
Does This Make My Antenna Look Big?Researchers mix technology with fashion, analyze a pharaoh’s skin condition, measure the smarts of Scrabble players, and more in this edition of Miller-McCune’s “Cocktail Napkin.”
As if Commercials Weren’t Bad Enough AlreadyDo we really need to smell the items featured in TV programming? A materials expert has created a function for your TV or portable device that can generate thousands of odors.
The Exploitation of Muggles in Harry Potter’s WorldIn this edition of The Cocktail Napkin, we look academics’ fixation on the social and economic problems in the world of Harry Potter, and how music festivals impact the psychological and social well-being.
New Dinosaur Gets a Rather Large NameAs if being wiped out by a meteor wasn’t degrading enough, a charismatic dinosaur discovered in Utah gets a less-than-flattering name.
Time for Robin Hood to Make a ComebackResearchers from Nottingham University Business School say their survey proves it’s time for the city to re-embrace its most famous, albeit probably mythical, hero.
Receive 1 year (6 issues) of our print magazine for just $14.95. Miller-McCune features polished, in-depth reports on research and solutions across the policy spectrum — from health care, education and energy to international affairs, poverty and the global economy. It's a must read for well-informed and solutions-driven individuals.
follow us on:
join our newsletter:
from the source
The wage gap between the sexes in America has been closing much faster than anyone realized, but that’s tempered by learning it’s been much wider than measurements had shown.
An effort to identify five performing orcas as slaves failed in part, argues one scholar, because there’s no legal precedent establishing them as persons.
New research finds listeners judge symphonic music differently when they’re told the conductor is a woman.
Transportation used to be one of the few guaranteed areas of agreement when ideology trumped pragmatism in D.C. But that’s no longer the case.
New research suggests less-creative people do more innovative thinking when they are told individualism is the norm, and instructed to conform.
