British scientists announce major new breakthrough.

They succeeded in restoring a fully functional thymus gland in mice by transplanting lab-grown cells..

This achievement could be an important step towards transplanting organs that will be grown in the laboratory..

A new study, the results of which were presented in Nature Cell Biology, was conducted by the staff of the MRC Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Scientists note that the thymus gland is a vital organ of the immune system, which is responsible for the production of T-lymphocytes that fight infections and mutated cells.. These T-lymphocytes are needed to fight cancer cells.

People whose thymus is not fully functional cannot produce enough T-cells, so they are susceptible to various infections and malignancies..

Thymus disease is sometimes treated with a thymus transplant soon after the baby is born, but researchers say available treatment options are limited due to donor shortages and tissue compatibility issues..

Therefore, the ability to grow the thymus directly in the laboratory from fully compatible cells is an amazing achievement.. Although it was previously possible to grow individual cell types "

The Holy Grail of Regenerative Medicine.

To conduct their work, Prof. Clare Blackburn's team used mouse embryonic stem cells, turning them into different types of specialized thymus cells by "

To do this, scientists increased the level of the FOXN1 protein, which controls the development of the thymus during organogenesis in the embryo.. The resulting cells performed the "

Next, the team combined induced thymic epithelial cells (iTEC) with other thymic cells and connected them to the kidneys of genetically identical mice..

4 weeks after transplantation, scientists observed the formation of functional, well-formed organs that had the structure of a normal thymus with clearly separated layers - the cortex and the medulla.. iTEC cells formed various types of T-lymphocytes from immature blood cells, which has been proven in the laboratory.

Commenting on the results of her study, Professor Blackburn said: “The ability to replace organs using cells from the laboratory is the holy grail of regenerative medicine.. But the size and complexity of lab-grown organs was extremely limited..

By directly reprogramming the cells, we were able to control the production of the types of cells that we need for transplantation.. So now we can grow an organized and functional organ. This is an important step towards creating an artificial thymus in the laboratory."

Professor Blackburn and her staff note that in the future it will be necessary to conduct experiments involving humans.. They hope that soon clinics will be able to create transplantable organs that will save patients with weakened immune systems..

medbe. en.