| Posted: May 26, 2008 |
Plastic packages of enzymes upgrade human cells in lab |
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(Nanowerk News) Swiss researchers have found that the insertion of tiny plastic packages of enzymes in human cells may help upgrade their metabolisms, without having to alter their genes.
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Researchers at University of Basel believe that their technique might open the door for advanced cancer treatments, or even upgrade a person's metabolism.
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In their study report, the researchers pointed out that the cells of multi-cellular organisms and some advanced single-celled organisms have internal compartments called organelles to carry out specialised metabolic functions.
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They revealed that they used artificial polymer organelles in lab experiments to upgrade live human cells.
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Lead researcher Wolfgang Meier said that his team coated their polymer vesicles in a chemical, which encouraged human white blood cells called macrophages to engulf them.
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He revealed that there were enzymes in the small capsules that produced fluorescent chemicals, through which they signalled that they were working without problems inside their new host.
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The researcher also said that the artificial organelle's membrane could be chemically tuned to control which chemicals could pass through it, and regulate the reactions inside.
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"We call it a 'nanoreactor'," New Scientist quoted him as saying.
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Meier further said that the artificial organelles could also work in other human cells, and thus lead to the development of a new cancer therapy that would trick diseased cells into poisoning themselves from the inside out.
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He said that such organelles could couild pave the way for a method to introduce enzymes with the ability to convert into "prodrug", used in advanced chemotherapy these days, actually inside cancer cells where it can be more effective.
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"You can create, inside these cells, a little compartment that is able to convert the non-toxic prodrug into a toxic drug that kills (them). There would be no other enzyme in the human body available that can catalyse this reaction," he said.
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Meier said that the artificial organelles might also be helpful in curing conditions that result from a deficit of a particular enzyme-such as administering patients with lactose intolerance organelles carrying lactose-digesting enzymes to help their digestive cells work properly.
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He even envisions that introduction of non-human metabolic functions into human cells in the future.
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"We could, in principle, bring in a nanoreactor that (lets) your skin do something like photosynthesis. So if you are hungry, you just lie in the Sun," Meier said.
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He, however, agreed that clinical trials of the artificial organelles were still a distant prospect.
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An article describing the research has been published in the journal Nano Letters ("Cell-Specific Integration of Artificial Organelles Based on Functionalized Polymer Vesicles").
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