UK scientists grow working organ from stem cells

Tuesday August 26th, 2014

British scientists have successfully used stem cells to grow a fully functioning organ in a living animal, it has been announced.

The organ was the thymus, which plays a critical role in the immune system.

The new organ has been grown in laboratory mice at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University.

The researchers say the technique could form the basis of thymus transplants for people with weakened immune systems, such as those who have undergone bone marrow transplants for leukaemia.

About one in 4,000 children born in the UK every year have a malfunctioning or missing thymus.

The researchers have published their findings in Nature Cell Biology. The project is being backed by the UK Medical Research Council and the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research charity.

Researcher Professor Clare Blackburn said: "The ability to grow replacement organs from cells in the lab is one of the 'holy grails' in regenerative medicine. But the size and complexity of lab-grown organs has so far been limited.

"By directly reprogramming cells we've managed to produce an artificial cell type that, when transplanted, can form a fully organised and functional organ. This is an important first step towards the goal of generating a clinically useful artificial thymus in the lab."

Dr Rob Buckle, head of regenerative medicine at the MRC, said: "Growing replacement parts for damaged tissue could remove the need to transplant whole organs from one person to another, which has many drawbacks - not least a critical lack of donors.

"This research is an exciting early step towards that goal, and a convincing demonstration of the potential power of direct reprogramming technology, by which once cell type is converted to another.

"However, much more work will be needed before this process can be reproduced in the lab environment, and in a safe and tightly controlled way suitable for use in humans."

N Bredenkamp et al. An organized and functional thymus generated from FOXN1-reprogrammed fibroblasts. Nature Cell Biology 24 August 2014; doi: 10.1038/ncb3023

Tags: Cancer | General Health | Transplant | UK News

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