We found that the regenerative potential can be preserved in vitro (laboratory) if the cells are attached and become part of the skin generated by tissue bioengineering techniques,” says Marcela del Rio, UC3M Bioengineering. The research group involved, comprising UC3M scientists from the CIEMAT (Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology) and CIBER (Center for Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases Network) at the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, has been working with this type of adult stem cells for years, in order to use them to regenerate the skin of patients.
Researchers have been able to unite these epidermal stem cells in the skin created by bioengineering, and found that cells preserve the regenerative potential that normally have in our skin. That is, using a small biopsy of a specific patient, which can generate almost the entire skin of that person in the laboratory. “The regenerative capacity of epidermal stem cells in these conditions is overwhelming and leads to the possibility of using these cells as a target for more complex protocols, such as gene therapy,” says Marcela Del Rio, who is a professor in the new degree program in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Madrid.
Healthy skin blemishes
In fact, these researchers have already demonstrated in per-clinical level, it is possible to isolate epidermal stem cells from patients with different genetic skin diseases, growers and, by molecular engineering as a first step, incorporate therapeutic genes into the genome of each patient to take the place of which the patient does not have or functions normally. Then in the second stage, stem cells can be mounted in patches ready to be transplanted to patients.
In recent studies, researchers have isolated stem cells from patients with Nether-ton syndrome, a genetic disease characterized by excessive flaking of the skin that leads to a loss of skin barrier function, which inhibits the loss of fluids that we do not become dehydrated or stops the pathogens that can cause infections to enter our bodies. These patients have a neonatal mortality rate between 10 and 15 percent, the molecular basis of this disease is a mutation of a gene called SPINK-5.
This gene inhibits the production of a protein that controls the process of peeling skin, making sure to occur properly. “What we did in this case – explains Marcela del Rio – was transferred SPINK-5 gene normal stem cells from a patient and then use these cells to generate the skin could be transplanted to the experimental models such as mice.”
The results, which were recently published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, is that human skin is regenerated in these immunodeficient mice showed a completely normal peeling, so that the structure of the epidermis and the function is restored. “These pre-clinical studies could be transferred to clinical practice in the medium term, and could become a therapeutic strategy for patients who otherwise have no treatment available to them,” concludes the researcher.
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Tags: Healthy skin, Nether-ton syndrome, Regenerative potential
