写的:
Qing-Dong王
高级首席科学家, 生物科学, 研究和早期开发, 心血管，肾脏和代谢, 澳门第一赌城在线娱乐R&D
再生可以被认为是未来药物的“圣杯”, allowing us to move from focusing on disease risk factors to directly addressing the underlying causes of disease. The key to regeneration is underst和ing which cells need to grow 和 divide to regenerate a desired tissue, 器官或身体部位. 除了, underst和ing these relationships could lead to new targeted treatments designed to moderate the effects of overactive cells. 这项研究可能会为患有糖尿病的人带来改变生活的疗法 心脏衰竭，肾脏和肝脏疾病.
New cells are made through proliferation, w在这里 one cell divides to produce two new cells. 因此，在一个巨大的家族树中，身体中的所有细胞都可以相互关联. Our cells are not all the same though 和 different groups of cells undergo differentiation to perform specialised functions. Following the science to learn more about proliferation 和 differentiation could reveal ways to control these processes, 潜在地使之成为可能 再生受损组织, or to moderate the harmful effects of overzealous biological processes such as fibrosis (thickening or scarring of the tissue).
Our research in this area is supported by a long-term collaboration with Professor Bin Zhou, 他是中国科学院大学的教授, 上海, 中国, a world leader in this field that has contributed extensively to the underst和ing of heart repair 和再生. Professor Zhou has created a tool called ProTracer that makes it possible to follow highly specific groups of cells as they proliferate 和 differentiate.
2021年与周教授共同发表研究成果 干细胞, that made it possible to use ProTracer to study a much larger range of different cell types. 除了追踪细胞的起源, these enhancements also made it possible to selectively remove genes from target cells to study their role in different illnesses.
再生肝脏和心脏受损的细胞
肝脏有一种特殊的自然再生能力, 有足够的时间, 肝脏有可能在三个月的时间里再生70%的肿块.1 然而, liver diseases can slow this process 和 eventually the damage becomes too extensive to repair.
澳门第一赌城在线娱乐在 科学 examining proliferation of different groups of liver hepatocytes in different situations, 比如在肝脏稳态过程中, 损伤的修复, 和再生. The findings are helping to show that different groups of hepatocytes support regeneration in different situations, 这可能是开发有效再生疗法的关键.
与肝脏形成对比, heart muscle has a limited ability to regenerate naturally 和 the resulting weakness has long-lasting effects on heart function, 这使它成为澳门第一赌城在线娱乐再生研究的重点.2 It had been thought that groups of cells known as c-Kit-positive cells 和 stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1)-positive progenitor cells in the heart play an intrinsic role in heart regeneration.3,4
Our work has shown that these cells have no role in producing heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) either under physiological conditions or after myocardial infarction. 而不是, the healing heart produces most new cardiomyocytes through proliferation of pre-existing cardiomyocytes. These data have been 发表在 several high profile journals; two in 循环 (在这里 和 在这里), 细胞研究, 循环研究 和 自然医学.
限制心力衰竭的影响
The lack of regeneration in the heart means that it depends on other mechanisms to respond to damage. 纤维化是这种反应的关键部分, 但过度纤维化也会限制心脏功能，导致慢性症状 心脏衰竭.5
纤维化是由成纤维细胞引起的. 在心脏中有两组显著的成纤维细胞, 心外膜源性成纤维细胞(EpiFb)和心内膜源性成纤维细胞(EndoFb). 不同的类型有非常不同的起源和, 比如肝细胞, 每一组都会对不同的触发因素做出反应.
在澳门第一赌城在线娱乐最近的研究中， 发表在 自然遗传学, we examined both groups of fibroblasts in 心脏衰竭 caused by blood pressure overload. Our results showed that EndoFb cells were responsible for fibrosis that limited heart efficiency, 澳门第一赌城在线娱乐能够通过去除EndoFb群体来减少纤维化的程度. The loss of EndoFb cells led to a lesser reduction in heart function 和 this should mean less severe symptoms.
We were also able to show that EndoFb cells have high levels of proteins linked to the Wnt signalling pathway, which has many functions throughout the body including driving harmful fibrosis following heart damage. 澳门第一赌城在线娱乐接着展示了去除Wnt信号的一个关键成分, 一种叫做-连环蛋白的蛋白质, 减少组织纤维化，改善心脏功能. By following the science we could find ways to target Wnt signalling in the EndoFb cells of people with 心脏衰竭, which may lead to new treatments that help to stop or slow the deterioration of heart function.
未来医学的血统追踪
Our work is bringing us closer to the possibility of regrowing 和 regenerating damaged tissues as a way to reverse disease damage, 有治愈的可能. 得到周教授及其团队的大力支持, we have investigated the origins of key groups of cells 和 explored regenerative mechanisms in the liver 和 heart. 在此过程中，澳门第一赌城在线娱乐有了更直接应用的发现. The identification of Wnt signalling as a driver of fibrosis mediated by EndoFbs presents an exciting avenue for developing novel 心脏衰竭 treatments based on existing techniques.
