Valencia, 10 Dec (EFE) .- An investigation has described a new mechanism of interaction of cells with their key environment that could have applications in therapies that make possible the regeneration of damaged tissues and organs, as in the case of muscular dystrophies.
The work of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), the Cyber Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (Ciber-BBN) and the University of Glasgow, has been published in the journal Communications Biology, Nature group.
The mechanism described by the researchers may “crucially” affect the processes of cell adhesion to its environment and could have multiple applications in regenerative medicine, according to academic institution sources.
Researchers have described a new mechanism of interaction between cell membrane receptors and have found that this mechanism can crucially affect the processes of adhesion of cells to their environment.
In the laboratories of the Center for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (CBIT) of the UPV, the team focuses its work on the development of material systems that simulate at the molecular level the extracellular matrix, which is like the microenvironment that surrounds cells. cells in a fabric.
“They are usually proteins such as collagen, fibronectin, growth factors, ions, and other molecules that cells have around them and use to exchange information,” says Dr. Patricia Rico, a researcher at Ciber-BBN at the Center for Biomaterials and Engineering. Tissue of the UPV.
According to Rico, the cellular environment can determine in the case of a stem cell what its destination will be, what type of cell it should become.
“With these materials it is possible to study and guide cell biology processes in a simplified way, which makes it easier to propose new therapeutic targets and advanced therapies for different pathologies,” he added.
MUSCLE DYSTROPHY
The researcher adds that the processes of adhesion of cells to their environment are very important in cell signaling in both healthy tissues and various diseases.
“This finding demonstrates a new function of the boron transporter other than the control of homeostasis of this ion. From this discovery, we work to identify whether it is possible to develop a new general therapeutic strategy to treat muscular dystrophies based on extraordinary preclinical results we have, ”he explains.
Following the researchers, the simultaneous stimulation of (integrated) cell adhesion receptors and the boron ion transporter (NaBC1) significantly improved the myogenic difference in human cell lines.
It also improves anatomical and functional muscle regeneration in human models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a rare inherited disease due to a mutation in a protein called dystrophin that performs the function of anchoring (adhesion) of the muscle cells around you.
This disease is the most common muscular dystrophy in children (one in 100,000) and affects various organs, from skeletal musculature to the heart or central nervous system.
It usually manifests between 2 and 3 years and being a degenerative disease drastically reduces the life expectancy of these children.
The researcher’s hypothesis is based on the fact that the simultaneous stimulation of cell adhesion receptors (integrated) and the boron ion transporter (NaBC1) provide an “extra” and adequate anchorage to diseased cells, which d ‘in this way their deficiencies can also be questioned, communities for this type of muscular dystrophies. EFE