Cell conversion technique ‘offers boost for personalised treatments’
28 Apr 2024
Prospects for personalised treatment for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases could have been boosted by improvements in cell conversion techniques, claim scientists at a leading Swedish institute.
A team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology said they have developed a faster approach to reprogramming human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), then transforming them into neural stem cells.
Using the bespoke microfluidic device employed for the research could offer better and less costly techniques that would more efficiently match and ensure acceptance by the patient host’s body, said first author Saumey Jain in Advanced Science.
“This marks a step towards making personalised cell-based therapies for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's accessible,” said Jain.
Working with scientists from the country’s Karolinska Institutet and Lund University, senior author Anna Herland said the work provided the first case of microfluidics being used to redirect iPSCs toward becoming neural stem cells.
The two-stage process first involves exposing cells to biochemical cues, inducing them into iPSCs, which can generate different cell types. Secondly, in the neural differentiation stage they are introduced to a culture medium mimicking the signalling cues and developmental processes involved in formation of the nervous system. Results in the cells being redirected to commit to becoming neural stem cells.
The microfluidic platform enabled a boosted commitment to their neural fate at an earlier point than those differentiated in a conventional well plate format.
“We documented that the confined environment of a microfluidic platform boosts neural stem cell generation commitment,” Herland said.
Jain added that the microfluidic chip was easy to fabricate using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and its size helped reduce the costs of reagents and cellular input.
