BIOL 4507- Exam Flashcards
translational medicine
- “bench to bedside”
- a network to connect people working in labs to people working in hospitals
describe the chain of people involved in translational medicine
PhD trained basic scientists -> MD, PhD trained clinician scientists -> regulatory, legal, and clinical trained specialists -> physicians
describe the process of translational medicine
human disease -> hypothesis -> funding -> innovation and discovery -> publishing and patenting -> development pipeline (scaling and developing, pre-clinical assessments- animal models, etc.) -> clinical trials -> regulatory approval
regenerative medicine
- developing and applying treatments to heal tissues and organs and restore function lost due to aging, disease, damage, or defects
- encompasses multiple areas of scientific inquiries, each of which is complex, but produce a powerful combination of technologies
stem cell
- undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells
- retain the capacity to differentiate into various types of cells (“potency/potential”)
- can proliferate indefinitely to produce more the same stem cell (clonal expansion)
what are the different levels of cells
totipotent, pluripotent, multipotent, unipotent, somatic
totipotent
- zygote or morula cells
- can contribute to all of the cell types of embryonic development, including extra embryonic tissues
name the 5 extra embryonic tissues
- placenta
- yolk sac
- amnion
- trophoblast
- extra embryonic endoderm lineages
pluripotent
- have the ability to generate multiple classes of stem cells (e.g. embryonic stem cells can produce mesenchymal, hematopoietic, and neural stem cells) and give rise to all of the cell types that make up the body
- more restricted than totipotent (can’t produce extra embryonic tissues)
multipotent
have the ability to differentiate into all the cell types within a particular lineage (more restricted)
unipotent
can produce only one cell type but have the property of self renewal that distinguishes them from non stem cells
somatic
body cells, can be reprogrammed into pluripotent SC (induced pluripotent SC)
what are the sources of stem cells
- differentiated somatic cells
- adult tissues
- embryonic tissues
- fetal stem cells
- originally derived from miscarriages and abortions, restrictions on the use of fetal SC resulted in the development of human induced pluripotent SC
how is stem cell therapy administered
ICV transplantation, intravascular infusion, intranasal delivery
Parkinson’s case study
- 70 yr old patient with progressed Parkinson’s (lack of dopamine to coordinate fluid movements)
- fetal ventral mesencephalon precursor from fetal SC were transplanted into the region of the brain that receives dopamine and gave rise to dopamine producing neurons at maturity
- patient was able to coordinate fluid movement without medication
- following research looked into deep brain stimulation due to the difficulty of use and controversy around fetal stem cells
research ethics
- new technological treatments require an ethical backup plan for if the research doesn’t continue progressing
- support for patients if the technology research does not continue
molecular organization of cells
- multicellular tissues exist in one of 2 types of cellular arrangements:
- epithelial
- mesenchymal
epithelial cells (4)
- regular columnar morphology
- cells are relatively static
- high degree of cell adhesion and cell-cell junctions
- produce a sheet of cells resting on a basal lamina with an apical surface
mesenchymal cells (4)
- irregular, rounded, elongate morphology
- cells are highly motile
- bipolar, front-back polarity
- dynamic adhesions (lamellipoda and filopoda) and held together as a tissue within a 3D extracellular matrix (ECM)
epithelial sheets (3)
- polarized
- rest on a basal lamina (ECM that serves as a foundation)
- can bend to form an epithelial tube or vesicle
cell junction
- bind epithelial cells robustly to one another and to the basal lamina
- linker protein attaches to cadherin protein which will attach to another cell’s cadherin protein and link the cells together (dimerization)
cadherin protein
transmembrane protein that spans the entire cell membrane
adheren junction
initiation and stabilization of cell-cell adhesion
tight junction
continuous intercellular barrier between epithelial cells
retinal neuroepithelium
- multipotent progenitors are located in the nueroblastic layer (NBL)
- differentiating neurons and glial cells are located in the inner neuroblatic layer and ganglion cell layer
glial cell
provides physical and chemical support to neurons and maintains their environment
ganglion cells
project info received by the photoreceptors to the brain
vimentin
- intermediate filament expressed in the mesenchymal cells that are differentiating
- involved in the non-NBL
- change the shape and polarity of the cell
epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT)
rearrangement of cells to create additional morphological features
mesenchymal epithelial transition (MET)
the reverse process of EMT whereby cells coalesce into an epithelium
conversion of epithelial and mesenchymal cells
- the early embryo is structured as one or more epithelia
- in the adult organism, EMTs and METs occur during wound healing and tissue remodelling
- requires the coordinated changes of many distinct families and molecules
what are the main mechanisms that stimulate cells to transition into single migrating cells
- changes in cell-cell adhesion
- changes in cell- ECM adhesion
- changes in cell polarity and stimulation of motility
- inversion of the basal lamina
changes in cell-cell adhesion
- cells must detach from the epithelium in order to migrate away
- there are 2 main cadherins that mediate cell adhesion in epithelia:
- E-cadherin (part of the epithelia layer)
- N-cadherin (associated with mesenchymal cells, doesn’t dimerize with E cadherin allowing the cells to move)
- often epithelia will down regulate E cadherin expression at the time of the EMT and express different cadherins, such as N cadherin to promote motility
integrin
- transmembrane protein
- 2 non covalently linked subunits that bind to ECM components (e.g. fibronectin, laminin, collagen)
changes in cell-ECM adhesion
- clustering of integrins on the cell surface affects the overall strength (avidity) of integrin- ECM interactions
- more integrins -> increased avidity and stronger ECM interactions
- different ECM components allow you to manipulate cells differently
changes in cell polarity and stimulation of cell motility
- epithelial polarity is characterized by cell-cell junctions:
- apicolateral domain (non adhesive)
- basal lamina (adhesive)
- changes in cell polarity helps promote EMTs
inversion of basal laminas
- in most EMTs, the emerging mesenchymal cells must penetrate a basal lamina (consists of ECM substrates- collagen type IV, fibronectin, lamina)
- mesenchymal cells may produce enzymes to degrade and breach the basal lamina (e.g. plasminogen activator)
how are EMT’s controlled
- transcriptional control (transcription factors)
- posttranscriptional regulation
- molecular control (ligand receptor signalling, inflammatory signalling molecules, etc.)
transcription factors
- regulate gene expression
- act in concert with one another to create large circuits
transcriptome
- a collection of transcription factors that define the cell and what it produces
- e.g. a stem cell is expressing a certain transcriptome, when it transitions to another type of cell it will express a different transcriptome
- requires a continuation of signalling that turns on specific profiles of transcription factors
post transcriptional regulation of EMTs (5)
- the activity of EMT transcription factors is regulated at the protein level
- translational control
- protein stability (targeting to the proteasome)
- nucelar localization (in order for things to function in the cell, they have to be in the appropriate location)
- non coding RNA (silences the ability of a gene to be expressed by binding just before the promoter and preventing transcription of the gene)
- RNA binding protein
musashi- 1
- RNA binding protein (post transcription) expressed in progenitor cells
- controls genes that define the transition from multipotent to TD
ligand receptor signalling
- ligands (receptor complexes) interact with target cell receptor and starts a signalling cascade
- may be diffusible (floating) or expressed on the surface of another cell
hierarchical organization of stem cells (3)
- self renewal (can clonal divide to self renew) vs terminally differentiated progeny (exited the cell cycle, no longer dividing, not considered a stem cell)
- progressive differentiation states
- vestige status
self renewal vs TD progeny
symmetrical division and asymmetrical division
symmetrical division
- clonal expansion
- SC -> 2 SC
asymmetrical division
- can be clonal/TD or TD
- regulation can be intrinsic (i.e. transcription factors) or extrinsic (e.g. growth factors)
progressive differentiation states
early stem cells, intermediate progenitors, terminally differentiated cells
early stem cells
- long term renewal
- lots of potential to divide and more likely to be a self renewal potential event
intermediate progenitor
- limited renewal
- more restricted in what it can generate
terminally differentiated (TD) cells
no renewal
vestige status (4)
quiescent, proliferative, intermediate, terminally differentiated
quiescent
- inactive but ready
- not in the cell cycle but can reenter
proliferative
- productive
- engaged in the cell cycle
intermediate progenitor (vestige)
- transient (between SC and TD)
- usually migrating and sometimes dividing
- lack pluripotency since they are not SC
terminal differentiated (vestige)
cannot divide unless cancerous or reprogrammed
criteria of pluripotent potential
Capacity to differentiate into cells of all 3 germ layers: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm
how we test for pluripotency
stem cells are injected into an immunodeficient mouse and eventually a tumor is produced -> the tumour is removed and examined -> tumors from pluripotent SC will have all three embryonic germ layers
testing progenitor and SC heterogeneity
- 2 general approaches:
- transplantation protocols
- in vitro expansion and differentiation protocols (bulk culturing and single cell colony formation)
bulk culturing
the activity of each cell of the population is not reflected by the population average (unable to capture the activity of rare and critical cells and transiently amplifying other cells
single cell colony formation
evaluate single cells with a high degree of comprehensiveness
stem cell sources (6)
single blastomere, morula, blastocyst, growth arrested embryo, somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis
morula
totipotent SC at the 16 cell stage, the whole clump of cells is taken
blastocyst
larger mass of cells than a morula (100-200 cells), has a population of different types of pluripotent SC
growth arrested embryo
- embryos are manipulated to guarantee they are only going to reach a certain stage of development
- zona pellucida is removed (protection during early development)
somatic cell nuclear transfer
cloning using a donor egg and donor nucleus
parthenogenesis
egg can develop into an embryo without being fertilized with sperm, can result in a lack of genetic diversity
single blastomere
a single cell removed from a blastocyst
SC from the amnion (fetal SC)
- from the placenta and fetal membrane (i.e. amnion and chorion)
- less controversial source of SCs
- usually discarded after deliver and accessible during pregnancy through amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling
amniocentesis
- prenatal test that take amniotic fluid around the baby in the uterus
- performed on women at higher risk of delivering a child with birth defects
sources of FSC
- amniotic epithelial cells (hAEC)- associated with the amniotic fluids/fluid membrane
- amniotic mesenchymal cells (hAMSC)- associated with the amniotic fluids/fluid membrane
- chorionic mesenchymal stromal cells- in the chorion
- chorionic trophoblastic cells- in the chorion
*all are candidates for use in transplantation
Wharton’s jelly
a gelatinous connective tissue, insulates and protects the umbilical cord
cord blood stem cells
- unrelated donor source of hematopoietic SC and amniotic epithelial cells
- accessing these cells allows you to modify them for later treatment
- previous dark history
clinical uses of CB (6)
- transplantation for hematological and non-hematological malignancies
- inherited metabolic disorders
- postnatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy
- cerebral palsy
- stroke
- autism (inflammatory theory)
induced pluripotent stem cells
introduction of 4 transcription factors can allow any somatic cell to be reprogrammed into an iPSC
4 transcription factors (yamanaka)
oct 4, sox 2, klf4, l-myc
describe the process of producing iPSC
- retrieve patient’s somatic cells
- turn on yamanka transcription factors
- different protocols are used to induce the different tissue types
*positive feedback loop- transcription factors regulate the expression of a network of pluripotent associated genes
what are the 4 iPSC reprogramming techniques
retroviral transduction, Sendai virus, episomal vectors, introduction of synthetic mRNAs
retroviral transduction
- retroviruses have the ability to transform their single-stranded RNA genome into a double stranded DNA molecule that stably integrates into the genome of dividing target cells
- Myc is a proto-oncogene (can mutate into an oncogene)
sendai virus
- enveloped, single stranded RNA virus
- replicates directly into the cytoplasm of the host cell without any DNA intermediary
sendai virus in iPSC reprogramming (3)
- non integrating (replicates independent of the cell cycle)
- produces high copy numbers of the target gene (efficient)
- does not translocate to the nucleus and is diluted with each cell
episomal (bacterial) vectors
- non viral and non integrating
- plasmids are replicated and partitioned into daughter cells
advantages of episomal vectors (2)
- generation of iPSC in a single transfection
- plasmids are lost over time resulting in transgene free reprogrammed cell lines
disadvantages of episomal vectors
can sometimes be integrated into the host genome, so the iPSC clones must be subject to genomic analysis
introduction of synthetic messenger RNAs
- mRNA is modified to overexpress pluripotent factors in somatic cells to reprogram them into iPSC
- substantial number of pluripotent factor expressions needed to drive cell transformation
disadvantages of the introduction of synthetic mRNA
requires repeated transfections to induce over expression of pluripotent protein and further promote reprogramming due to transient (short lasting) expression
epigenetic
- changes in cell function that happen without changes in DNA sequence
- methylation state of an adult somatic cell must be remodelled during the reprogramming process to unlock access to the pluripotent associated gene network
- many genes are hypermethylated in donor cell types but hypomethylated in iPSCs
epigenetic memory
- ability of cells to stably remain and transmit thier unique gene expression patterns to daughter cells
- epigenetic memories of iPSCs are short term and easily lost; time in culture reduces epigenetic differences among iPSCs
methylation
suppresses gene expression
acetylation
encourages gene expression
induced transdifferentiation
- direct transformation from one cell type to another
- a major mechanism in fish for regrowth
advantages of transdifferentiation
- relatively fast in comparison to iPSC
- less likely than iPSC derivatives to contain residual undifferentiated cells that could produce teratomas
disadvantages of transdifferentiation
- mature cell types have a limited capacity to divide
- require a large input population- cells are not going into the cell cycle, you’re pushing them from one population to another
- finish the process with less cells than you started with
- population is clonally derived so genetic manipulation and characterization is difficult/not feasible
application of SC
disease modelling, personalized medicine, cell therapy, conservation of endangered species
disease modelling
- positive results in animal models do not always translate to human studies
- not surprising since rodents diverged evolutionarily from humans 60 mya
- iPSCs allow scientists to study human diseases using human cells and dieases for which there is evidence of inheritance but no specific mutations identified
- iPSCS can be derived from patients with complex diseases that lack a clear genetic basis and preserve their genome
personalized medicine
- many research methods tend to be similar ethnic backgrounds
- genetic background of an individual can determine the success or adverse effects of a particular drug
- can be used to create a customized medical plan or personalized regenerative medicine
cell therapy
- autologous transplantation of iPSCs and their derivative is expected to be tolerated by the immune system
- banks of iPSCs that match a large percentage of the population have been created
- delivery of therapeutic cell types must be targeted to a region of interest
- IV injection is simple and easy, but often results in the cells being captured by the lungs or liver
conservation of endangered species
- endangered organisms can be rederived to increase their population
- if the population is extinct and you have a cell sample or their genome, you could induce pluripotent SCs and create an embryo to implant into another species
the hematopoietic system is a self renewal system
- divide and differentiate to produce maturing progeny
- divide to self renew to maintain a pool of SCs
the site of hematopoiesis changes during development
- placental
- fetal liver
- bone marrow (adults)
hematopoietic SC therapies (6)
- bone marrow transplantation
- autologous/allogenic peripheral blood SC transplantation
- CB transplantation
- HSCs for severe combined immunodeficiency
- HSCs for autoimmune diseases
- HSCs for tolerance induction post transplant
HSCs for tolerance induction post transplant
- used to prevent the reaction of transplanted organs/cells
- allogenic cells are mixed with host cells and injected months before the transplant to integrate them into the immune system
mesenchymal SC sources (6)
- bone marrow compartment (best known source)
- adipose (accessible)
- dermal
- placenta
- CB and peripheral blood
- intervertebral disc (remnants of the notochord)
*high degree of potential
multipotent adult progenitor cells
typically quiescent but possess some primordial potential to recapitulate SC activity
types of ASCs
- hematopoietic/immunomodulatory, neural, bone, cardiac
- certain parts of the organ will have quiescent compartments
- brain creates new SC for the olfactory area (neurons are exposed and need to be replaced often and for the hippocampus (requrie new neurons for new memories and refreshing memories and synaptic connections))
biomaterials
- any material, natural or synthetic, that comprises a whole or part of a living structure or biomedical device which performs, amplifies, or replaces the function that has been lost by injury or degenerative condition
- synthetically and pharmacologically inert
- used in a variety of sub disciplines (medicine, surgery, dentistry, vet med)
conventional examples of biomaterials
- substitute heart valves (synthetic, xenotranspants)
- artificial joints
- dental implants
- fracture fixes
- skin regeneration templates
- contact lens
- kidney dialyzers
- blood vessel angioplasty
- cochlear implants
3 main classes of biomaterials
- metals (e.g. orthopaedic screws)
- ceramics (e.g. dental implants)
- polymers (e.g. drug delivery)
- can be combined into composites
properties of biomaterials (6)
- surface properties (rough, coarse, porous, reaction with water)
- corrosion resistance (electrical signals within the body may be corrosive)
- innate degradation (material will naturally break down over time)
- mechanical properties
- biochemical reactivity (is it going to react with the chemistry around it)
- radiation
related applications of biomaterials (4)
- implantation (is it inside or outside the body)
- hemocompatibility (a lot of chemistry occurs in the circulatory system- oxygen carrying capacity, coagulation, etc.)
- biodegration (body will break down the material- enzymes)
- immune surveillance (immune system will be reactive towards any foreign material)
applications for biomaterials in regenerative medicine (5)
- cardiopulmonary organ replacements
- orthopaedic and dental implants
- surgical sutures and adhesives
- biological scaffolds
- nerve regeneration
cardiopulmonary organ replacements
- cardiovascular implants and devices
- extracorporeal artificial organs
- artificial erythrocyte substitutes
cardiovascular devices and implants
- artificial heart
- synthetic heart valves- used for training, potential future use for treatment
- coronary artery bypass surgery
what do you need to consider when producing synthetic heart valves/vessels
- kinetic energy (heat)
- stretch
- diameter
coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG)
artery in the heart is blocked, disrupting functioning and rhythm of the heart -> artery is harvested from another part of the body -> donor artery is used to bypass the blocked section
extracoporeal artificial organs
- provide mass transfer operations to support failing/impaired organ systems
- e.g. pace maker, insulin pump