Cell reprogramming project gets go-ahead in Andalusia

29 June 2009

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. A favourable report for the development of the first cell reprogramming project ever in Andalusia has been made by The Spanish commission for the monitoring and control of the donation and use of human cells and tissues (Comisión Nacional de Seguimiento y Control de la Donación y Utilización de Tejidos Humanos), under the Spanish Ministry of Health.

The Commission has also given the green light to a new research project with embryonic stem cells, thus there being a total of 16 ongoing projects on this issue in Andalusia, and 5 projects on the use of own cell line at the Andalusian bank of stem cells.

Moreover, the commission has authorised the extension of scientific research on stem cells carried out by Pablo Menéndez, to include a new objective based on the generation of IP stem cells.

The project titled Generación de células madre pluripotentes humanas utilizando retroelementos LINE-1 (generation of human pluripotent stem cells using LINE-1 retroelements) is the first scientific research work on cellular reprogramming to be carried out in Andalusia.

The aim of this study is to obtain reprogrammed cells from fibroblasts using human endogenous retroelements as reprogramming vehicles, that is, LINE-1 elements, and their specific application to Fanconi anaemia therapy.

The five studies from the Andalusian bank that have been authorised to use these cell lines are:

Desarrollo de un modelo de leucemia linfoblástica infantil pro-B con translocación M-11-Af4, basado en el uso de células madre embrionarias humanas y de cordón umbilical (development of a childhood M-11-Af4 + pro-B lymphoblastic leukaemia type based on the use of human embryonic stem cells and umbilical cord);
Células madre y cáncer: mecanismos celulares y moleculares responsables de la transformación celular en tumores mesenquimales pediátricos (leucemias y sarcomas) (stem cells and cancer: cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the transformation of cells into pedriatic mesenchymal tumors- leukemias and sarcomas);
Optimización de condiciones de cultivo sin 'feeders' para líneas de células madre embrionarias humanas (Cmeh) importadas o derivadas a partir de embriones donados en fase de reimplantación: diferenciación de cmeh hacia línea hematopoyética (optimization of culture conditions without feeders for human embryonic stem cell lines (hESCL) either imported or derived from donated embryos on a reimplantation phase: differentiation of hESCL towards hematopoietic line);
Actividad de retroelemento LINE-1 en células stem somáticas: impacto y mosaicismo genómico (LINE-1 retroelement activity in somatic stem cells: genomic impact and mosaicim); and
Estudio de la estabilidad genética y molecular mediante tecnología de alta resolución (SKY y SNPs) de células madre embrionarias humanas (CEMH): Desarrollo de CMEH con alteraciones moleculares de herramientas sin precedentes en terapia celular y en modelos (study of genetic and molecular stability using high resolution technology (SKY and SNPs) in human embryonic stem cells (hESC): development of hESC of tools with unprecedented molecular alterations in cellular therapy and in models) .

Embryonic stem cells

The aim of the new embryonic stem cell project authorised by the Spanish commission above, titled Cultivo, diferenciación, selección y caracterización de células diferenciadas a partir de células troncales embrionarias humanas derivadas de preembriones afectos de enfermedades genética obtenidos tras un Diagnóstico Genético Preimplantatorio (culture, differentiation, selection and characterisation of differentiated cells using human embryonic cells from pre-embryos with genetic diseases obtained after a Genetic Ple-implantating Diagnosis) is to culture this type of cells so as to carry out in vitro studies on the cellular mechanisms involved in pathologies such as haemophilia A, myothonic dystrophy, Huntington's Chorea, and spinal muscular atrophy, among others. The leading researcher of this project is Guillermo Antiñolo.

In addition to this, the Spanish commission for the monitoring and control of the donation and use of human cells and tissues has made a favourable report for adding a new objective to the project 'Desarrollo de un modelo de leucemia linfoblástica infantil pro-B con translocación M-11-Af4 basado en el uso de células madre embrionarias humanas y de cordón umbilical'.

The initial aim of this research work, led by the director of the Andalusian bank of stem cells, Pablo Menéndez, was to study in depth childhood pro-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, by searching for the pre-natal basis that cause this disease.

The new authorised objective is the generation of IPS cells from blasts taken from children suffering from MLL-Af4+ pro-B ALL leukaemia. This study line consists of obtaining reprogrammed cells from patients by introducing reprogrammed genes in somatic cells, this way an in vitro model of the disease is obtained so as to make its research easier. Therefore this is a study that involves cellular reprogramming.

IP cells are adult cells that, by using cellular reprogramming techniques, reactivate their original capabilities so as to distinguish them in any type of tissue. Therefore, they are adult cells whose memory is deleted so that they can be used with all their potentialities.

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