A team of scientists has discovered a new gene therapy that could improve tissue regeneration in amputated limbs and spinal cords of humans.
Researchers at USC have developed a gene therapy that has made lizards regenerate their amputated tails to the way they were when they were born, something they cannot do naturally. According to the team, this discovery may open the door to new regeneration therapies in human tissues.
For millions of years, lizards have had the ability to regenerate their tails when they lose them. But these new limbs are not the same as those they have from birth: instead of having spinal column and nerves, the new structure is a tube of cartilage.
Researchers at USC have come up with a new method to make the tails of mourning lizards grow the same as they do at birth, using embryonic cells and the CRISPR gene-editing tool.
“This is one of the only cases where the regeneration of an appendage has been significantly improved through stem cell-based therapy in any reptile, bird or mammal, and it informs efforts to improve wound healing in humans,” says Thomas Lozito, lead author of the study.
The team analyzed how lizards’ tails form during gestation and compared it to how it does when it regenerates as an adult. They discovered that there are a series of neuronal cells in the nervous system (NSC) that send out a signal that blocks the formation of nerves and bone structure while promoting the development of cartilage.
They also observed that although this signal is not activated, adult NSCs are not capable of generating new bone or nerve tissue. However, according to the researchers, embryonic NSCs produce this signal only in the lower region that will eventually form cartilage. While the upper side does not receive the signal and begins to develop skeletal and nervous tissue.
The study authors tried to implant this type of embryonic NSC in stumps of adult lizard tails and found that they responded to brain signals and only allowed the generation of cartilaginous tissues. So they decided to turn to CRISPR gene-editing tools to make the NSCs stop responding to the signal.
The result was that lizards were able to regenerate their tails with the same dorsoventral pattern, which they had at birth including skeletal and nervous tissue in the upper or dorsal part, and cartilage tissue in the lower or ventral part.
“Lizards have been around for more than 250 million years, and in all that time no lizard has ever regrown a tail with dorsoventral patterning, until now,” says Lozito.
“My lab has created the first regenerated lizard tails with patterned skeletons
This experimental therapy with lizards opens a new field of study of new therapies for humans. Scientists say that this research has provided them with essential practical experience to understand how to improve the regenerative potential of an organism.
According to Dr. Lozito, “perfecting the imperfect regenerated lizard tail provides us with a blueprint for improving healing in wounds that don’t naturally regenerate, such as severed human limbs and spinal cords. In this way, we hope our lizard research will lead to medical breakthroughs for treating hard-to-heal injuries”.
The results of their research have been published in detail by the journal Nature.
Image Credit: Getty
You were reading: New gene therapy that may help to regenerate lost limbs