Exam #3 Flashcards
Identify/choose the most common proteins involved in regeneration from the list
a. Hox Genes
b. BMP (all)
c. Wnt
d. APC (adenomatous polyposis coli – signaling mechanism)
Define Blastema
- Mix of stem & progenitor cells (totipotent/pluripotent)
- Give rise to limbs by redifferentiation
Define Transdifferentiation
Differentiation between differentiated cells
Match tissue & their protein signals
- Limb (FGF8 - anterior & Shh - posterior)
- Iris (FGF2 & BMP must be inhibited)
Name any 4 causes of liver failure
Genetics, Acetaminophen overdose, Alcohol, Obesity
Name any 4 cell types found in the liver
a. Hepatocytes – specialized epithelial cell that makes up most of liver
b. Hepatocyte Stellate Cells – progenitor stem cells that respond to injury
c. Hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells – inflammation regulation, secrete anti-inflammatory molecules
d. Hepatoblasts – progenitor cells (similar to stellate – transdetermination)
Why are cholangiocytes important in the liver?
Secrete bile and important for homeostasis (change in pH)
Remember the pro-regenerative signals active during liver damage. (VEGF, HGF, Wnt)
a. VEGF is active during normal division and liver cell maintenance
b. Acts as pro-regenerative signal along with HGF and Wnt2
Explain the process of clinical trials required for stem cell treatment approval
Safety (animal testing, phase 1)
Efficacy (Phase 2)
Longterm Safety and efficacy (Phase 3)
Safety monitoring (Phase 4)
Mention any 2 pros and cons of using MSCs, ESCs and iPSCs for clinical applications. Which cell type might be approved 1st and why?
MSC (Adult Stem) – most likely to be approved 1st
Pro – thought to be less likely to be rejected if used for transplants, success has been demonstrated in various applications
Cons – Limitations on ASC ability to differentiate, cant be grown for long periods of time
ESC
Pros – Maintained and grown for 1 year or more, established protocols for maintenance in culture
Cons – Process to generate is inefficient, unsure whether they would be rejected if used in transplants
iPSCS
Pros – abundant somatic cells of donor can be used, issues of histocompatibility can be avoided
Cons – Methods for maintenance of differentiated cells are not certain, viruses are used to introduce embryonic genes and has been shown to cause cancer in mouse
What are nucleases? Mention the 3 most common nucleases to edit stem cells
Nucleases – enzyme that cleaves a chain of nucleotides in nucleic acids into smaller units
ZFNs – zinc finger nucleases
TALENS – transcription activator-like effector nucleases
CRISPR – clustered regularly interspace short palindrome repeats
Compare between ZFNs, TALENS and CRISPR. Which is the most efficient enzyme and why? (4 per)
ZFNs (nuclease)
- Fok 1 (endonuclease) to cleave DNA
- Non-specific and cleaves outside recognition sites
- High rates of off-target breaks
- High cytotoxicity & target issue
TALENS (nuclease)
- Fok1 to cleave DNA
- More conserved repeats
- Easy to design and construct
- Lower cytotoxicity
CRISPR (most efficient enzyme)
- Bacterial adaptive immunity
- Cas9 is used
- Higher efficiency
- Easily designed, more accurate
How does CRISPR work? Explain the function of Cas9, gRNA, PAM
Cas9
- Associated with CRISPR (nuclease)
- Endonuclease (Makes the cut)
gRNA
- Is used to find complementary DNA so that Cas9 can make the cut
PAM
- Protospacer Adjacent Motif
- Sequence 3 nt
Who won the Nobel prize for the discovery of CRISPR?
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna share the award for devolving the precise genome-editing technology
Briefly explain how CRISPR is used for Knock-in and knock-out models in stem cells (HR and NHEJ)
Knock- in
- Inducing mutations
- Correct mutations
Knock-out
- Inducing mutation
HDR
- Homology Directed Repair
- Gene Repair or mutations
- Precise repair mechanism that uses homologous donor DNA to repair DNA damage
NHEJ
- Non-Homologous End Joining
- Gene disruption
- Error-prone mechanism in which broken ends of DNA are joined together
Explain the mechanism/selection of CRISPR edited stem cells with diagram.
a. Bacterial Adaptive Immunity
b. Uses s-RNA guide to find complementary DNA sequence to cleave
c. Cas9 endonuclease to make cut
d. PAM (protospacer adjacent motif) sequence (3 nucleotides)
Describe the fix and swap mechanism of b-Thalassemia using CRISPR. Which one is more clinically translatable and why?
Fix Mechanism
- Using CRISPR and a DNA template to fix the mutation in the hemoglobin gene
- Alpha and beta
Swap Mechanism
- CRISPR reactivate fetal hemoglobin gene by turning off the BCL11A gene (for adult hemoglobin gene)
- Alpha and gamma
How was the 1st CRISPR baby produced to negate HIV?
- Using IVF (HIV+ parents egg+sperm), culture embryo then use CRISPR/Cas9 to knock out CCR5 gene (core receptor that binds w/ HIV for entry into Th cell). Then implantation of the gene-edited embryo to mother/surrogate, HIV free baby is born
- HIV Infection in babies: gp120 on HIV cant bind to CCR5 (co-receptor) meaning that although it can bind to CD4 receptor, it needs both to enter cell.
Any 2 advantages and disadvantages of CRISPR in treating HIV
Advantages
1. HIV protection/prevention
2. Decreased inflammatory responses and fibrosis
Disadvantages
1. Reduced protection against influenza
2. Early manifestation of West Nile Infection
CAR-T cell therapy is a more precise way to target a specific cell type. Explain the mechanism of how (from start to finish) these cells are engineered.
a. Collect white blood cells from patient
b. Isolate T cells
c. Engineer T cells to recognize cancer cells using CARs– insert CAR gene (chimeric antigen receptor)
d. Grow and proliferate modified T cells in culture
e. Infuse into patient
f. CAR T cells bind to cancer cells
Name any 2 exo and endogenous DNA damaging agents
Endogenous agents
- material that is present and active in an individual organism or living cell but that originated outside that organism
- diet related (bile acids), Macrophage and neutrophil produced ROS
Exogenous agents
- smoke, radiation, genotoxic, inflammation