""Proposal on Jointly Conducting Human Clinical Treatment of Stem Cells by Various Laboratories"?"
"Oh, what a loud tone!"
“Have stem cells developed enough to differentiate into all cells in the human body?”
Early in the morning, Chen Yiqing came to the office, poured a cup of tea slowly, and got ready for work.
As soon as I sat down and turned on my computer, I saw this new mass email from the stem cell laboratory.
Clicking in and scanning briefly, his eyes immediately widened.
"What?"
"The directed differentiation of iPS pluripotent stem cells into neuronal cells, when transplanted together with immunoregulatory T cells, will greatly enhance the survival and function of neuronal cells after transplantation."
Seeing these words, Chen Yiqing was instantly shocked.
The low survival rate of nerve cell transplants has always been a major medical obstacle.
Not only the transplantation of nerve cells into the brain, but also the transplantation of nerve cells into the spinal cord, the success rate is very low.
Not only are the nerve cells unable to survive, but the penetrating trauma during the transplantation process can also induce an inflammatory response in the host, which is simply adding insult to injury.
Even neural stem cells, because they cannot differentiate into neuronal cells, will let themselves go after transplantation and develop into various bizarre malignant sarcomas in the human body.
This situation has led to stagnation in stem cell therapy.
Even now, although neural stem cells in the brain can regenerate under the stimulation of drugs, there are no corresponding drugs for neuronal cells in the spinal cord, and it is difficult to recover after damage.
If you want to try stem cell therapy and inject neural stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells into the spinal cord, the survival rate is still quite impressive.
I can’t say it’s completely useless, I can only say it’s of little use, but it’s better than nothing.
Anyway, it cannot turn the tide and achieve a complete cure, so it has not been popularized in clinical practice.
In this regard, scientists have put forward various hypotheses to explain the massive death of nerve cells after transplantation, and have used all possible means to save dying spinal cord nerve cells.
Unfortunately, little success has been achieved, and the limited survival rate after neuronal transplantation remains a key challenge.
In the email sent by Ding Mian, a research result was briefly mentioned.
That is, after regulatory T cells are co-transplanted with neural stem cells, they can be directed to differentiate into neuronal cells under the guidance of the expressed regulatory molecules, repair damaged nerves, reduce inflammatory reactions, and integrate with the environment around the neural circuits. One body.
"Regulatory T cells are a common immune cell. I never expected it to have such an effect."
"Not only can it inhibit the death of neuron transplants and adverse neuroinflammation, it can even prevent unnecessary peripheral immune cells from entering the trauma site, greatly improving the survival rate!"
Chen Yiqing stood up suddenly, extremely excited.
"Now, ALS is cured!"
“Some other neurodegenerative diseases, and even high paraplegia patients, have hope of recovery!”
Thinking of this, he immediately clicked the "Print" button.
Amidst a swishing sound, a document appeared on the printer.
Chen Yiqing grabbed the paper that was still slightly warm, and without even having time to take a sip of the hot tea that had just been poured on the table, he hurried out like a whirlwind.
He moved very quickly, and when he arrived at the stem cell laboratory, there was no one at the door.
The door was ajar, Chen Yiqing knocked lightly, and a young man's lazy voice suddenly came from inside.
"Come in!"
Pushing the door open, I saw Ding Mian lying on an ergonomic chair that was tilted back 160 degrees, with his legs raised high on the desk, looking very uncomfortable.
As soon as he saw Chen Yiqing, he felt a little embarrassed. He coughed lightly and slowly lowered his legs.
The body also slid quietly with the back of the chair, and slowly sat upright.
"Director Chen, do you have anything to do with me?" Ding Mian asked seriously.
Chen Yiqing didn't pay attention to these details. He strode to his desk and slapped the paper in his hand on his desk.
At the same time, he looked directly at the other person and asked the question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time.
"Ding Bo, your method of co-transplantation of neural stem cells and immune T cells to improve the survival rate of neural stem cells can also work in the spinal cord?"
"Of course, what disease are you planning to treat?"
When Ding Mian heard this, he realized that the other party was responding to his email, and he suddenly became excited.
"ALS! I have been suffering from ALS for a long time, but I have never found a good treatment."
Chen Yiqing answered the question without hesitation.
"That's great. We can study treatments together. This is definitely the first step in stem cell therapy!"
Ding Mian clapped his hands and cheered loudly.
He instantly became more impatient than Chen Yiqing: "Director Chen, why don't you go to my laboratory now and have a look."
"Let's go together!"
Chen Yiqing grabbed his arm, and the two of them put on lab coats at the speed of light and entered the cell culture room.
"In fact, I have always attached great importance to the differentiation of neural stem cells."
"You also know that the generation and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells rely heavily on the precise transmission of various signals between cells."
"As stem cells begin to specialize and develop into finer cells within various organs, different molecular signals are transmitted between cells so that the cells can work with their neighbors to complete various tasks."
"Such a fine adjustment process is the embryonic development process of all animals."
"If you want to build a human body, even if you just build an organ, it is useless to have the DNA of the cells alone. The cells need to be in a group organization."
"In terms of genes, there is essentially no difference between an E. coli cell and a human cell."
"My original idea was to grow human organs in vitro."
"To this end, I have done research in several aspects, from easy to difficult, and gradually deepened."
"At the beginning, in vitro organoids were developed, such as mini kidneys and mini brains."
"But they are not perfect. They are just shapes but no spirit. They cannot form the structure of real human organs, nor do they have their functions."
"One important reason is that they develop in isolation, lacking the necessary guidance signals from surrounding tissues."
"Communication, communication, communication between people is very important and is the cornerstone of the existence of human society."
"Cells, like people, are group social beings. Only in cell groups and tissues can we find our own position and develop our own strengths."
"The more I study, the more I find that cells are actually anthropomorphic, literally anthropomorphic. You say it's magical or not, haha."
"This is my biggest insight into doing stem cell research."
"Haha, I'm sorry, the topic got a little off topic."
Ding Mian handed the cell slice to Chen Yiqing and looked at the other person's eyes, as motionless as if they were on the lens of a microscope.
I can only explain my research and development process endlessly, and let myself go more and more.
"To get back to the subject, at first I wanted to culture pluripotent stem cells in vitro, just like raising a son, to grow an organ."
"Of course I don't have a son, so I don't really understand. Anyway, it doesn't matter."
"Unfortunately, I failed and only grew mini-organs called organoids."
“Even if we build a structure similar to human organs through tissue engineering and make the organoids larger, it will not be successful at all.”
"Although they look similar on the outside, have the same tissue structure, and the same cell makeup, they just don't work properly."
"Later I figured out that organ transplantation is not just as simple as replacing old organs in the body with new ones cultured outside the body. The new organs must integrate into the surrounding environment to function properly."
"For the heart to beat normally, the electrical activity of all the heart muscle cells in the heart must be synchronized."
"If the electrical activity of heart muscle cells in one area is out of sync with the electrical activity of cells in other areas, the rhythm of the heartbeat can be disrupted, leading to arrhythmias and ultimately heart failure."
"This is really too complicated. After I transplant the hardware, do I still have to debug the software? To synchronize the signals from both parties?"
"There are too many cells in the organ, which is far more troublesome than a bunch of software codes."
"So, later I tried to differentiate iPS stem cells into different cells and transplanted them into the body to repair them to a certain extent."
"It's just like a tailor, except I'm doing more detailed repairs at the organ and tissue level."
"The first thing I tried was cardiomyocytes, and unfortunately, it fucking failed again."
"But I soon learned why the transplant failed."
"The main reason is that the cardiomyocytes cultured in vitro cannot communicate with the myocardial tissue in the body after transplantation, so they cannot beat synchronously."
"Nerve cells and other tissues cultured in vitro also have the same problem. Just like a deaf-mute person, they are unable to communicate with native cells and establish connections with each other."
"So when I differentiated nerve cells later, I had an idea and tried to add some common cells in the human body and culture them together."
"Immune cells were the first choice that came to my mind, because when neuron cells are damaged, they are prone to inflammation and scarring due to the immune response, so I tried it right away."
"Facts have proven that after adding different immune cells to neuronal cells cultured in vitro, they can be induced to develop into corresponding types of cells and establish appropriate connections with other cells."
"I did different permutations and combinations and finally discovered the important role of regulatory T cells."
"Neuron cells differentiated and cultured together with T cells can send and receive nerve signals to each other normally."
"However, in vitro culture is only effective for nerve cells in a small range. Once the cells are cultured in large numbers, especially as large as an entire organ, complex intercellular connections cannot be established."
"So, I put neural stem cells and regulatory T cells together and injected them into the brains of mice and the spinal cord at the site of viral injury."
"Sure enough, neural stem cells successfully differentiated into neuron cells in mice, filled the breaks and scars on the spinal cord nerves, and treated the mice's nerve damage."
"Just like building bridges and paving roads, the damaged and broken roads are filled with new materials."
"It can be seen that the stem cell reprogramming process is more efficient and more convenient in the body."
"As long as the corresponding inducing factors are found, new neurons can be induced in the body, establish correct connections with existing neural networks, and communicate effectively."
Chen Yiqing stared blankly at the purple-red stained nerve cells under the camera. His heart was surging and he could not speak for a long time.
He listened to part of Ding Mian's tirade, but it also aroused more doubts.
Finally, he raised his head and looked straight at the other person.
"What did you just say?"
"Find a suitable inducing molecule?" Ding Mian was stunned for a moment and asked with some uncertainty.
"No," Chen Yiqing shook his head, "Go a little further."
"Repair bridges and pave roads? Use new materials to fill damaged and broken routes?" Ding Mian's expression became a little strange.
"No, go a little further." Chen Yiqing still shook his head.
Ding Mian pursed his lips tightly, feeling a little angry in his heart, but after looking at the other person's age, he still said helplessly: "Cure the nerve damage in mice?"
"Yes, that's it." Chen Yiqing's eyes instantly burst out with a light, and he asked extremely eagerly.
"Where are the mice you experimented with?"
"Isn't it all in your hands?" Ding Mian pointed at the pile of sliced tissues in front of Chen Yiqing and said casually.
"No way, you sliced all the mice?" Chen Yiqing was stunned, with an incredulous look on his face.
Ding Mian spread his hands and was speechless.
"What else? It's just a mouse. If I don't cut it into pieces, will I still keep it for the rest of its life?"
"I don't specialize in neural stem cells. I still have to study mice transplanted with other stem cells."
"Well, that makes sense." Chen Yiqing sighed and could only settle for the next best thing.
"How about you give me the detailed experimental data and a prepared neural stem cell sample?"
"I'll go back and find some mice and do the experiment again."
Ding Mian nodded: "That's no problem. I'll sort it out and send it to you later."
"As for the samples, I have to trouble you to come and get them tomorrow."
"Why do you have to come tomorrow?" Chen Yiqing immediately reacted: "No, don't tell me, you have to make it now."
"Ah, what else?"
Seeing Ding Mian's confident expression, Chen Yiqing was completely speechless.
Almost instantly, the sight of Ding Mian lying half in the office with his legs crossed appeared in his mind.
He couldn't help but roar in his heart: "Old Tang, just take care of your relatives' children, they are too ungrateful to do their job properly."
"For such an important experiment, no samples are retained, and no redundant experimental backups are made."
"That's it, he also asked our major laboratories to do stem cell treatment with him."
"It's so outrageous!"
Ding Mian opened his big innocent eyes and looked at Chen Yiqing who suddenly fell into silence, with doubts and confusion on his face.
Why didn't the other party speak? Was it because I didn't explain clearly enough?
I've been working very hard to help?
Can't the other party see it?
Hey, isn’t Director Chen famous for his temper?
Why is it so different from the rumors! (End of chapter)
