CRISPR Development Makes Stem Cells 'Invisible' to Immune System Without Immunosuppressants

Gene editing can make stem cells invisible to the immune system, making it possible to carry out cell therapy transplants without suppressing the patients’ immune response. Scientists in the US and Germany used immune engineering to develop universal cell products that could be used in all transplant patients. The idea is to create stem cells that evade the immune system; these hypoimmune stem cells are then used to generate cells of the desired type that can be transplanted into any patient without the need for immunosuppression, since the cells won’t elicit an immune response. They used CRISPR-Cas9 to knock out two genes involved in the major histocompatibility complex, which is used for self/non-self discrimination. They also increased the expression of a protein that acts as a “don’t eat me” signal to protect cells from macrophages. Together, these changes made the stem cells look less foreign and avoid clearance by macrophages. The team then differentiated endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes from the engineered stem cells, and they used these to treat three different diseases in mice. Cell therapy treatments using the hypoimmune cells were effective in rescuing hindlimbs from vascular blockage, preventing lung damage in an engineered mouse model, and maintaining heart function following a myocardial infarction. Immunosuppression poses obvious risks to a patient, and generating custom cells for transplant therapy is often prohibitively expensive. The development of universal donor cells that can be used as therapeutics could bring the cost down significantly, making cellular therapeutics available to many more patients in a much safer way.

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#CRISPR #GeneEditing #StemCells

[LongevityScienceNews]

When do you think CRISPR will be ready for widespread therapeutic use in humans?

[Health.First.]

I’ve been hearing a lot about CRISPR for the last decade but it seems like things are getting more positive

[Ingrid.Barker]

Lifespan News is my favorite channel! CRISPR is my favorite age reversal therapy! So I especially loved this video!

[toby-xorb]

Congratulations on the release of Dr. Harold Katcher’s book - inventor of the E5 treatment for anti-aging (54% reversal of aging in rats, currently undergoing dog trials with Dr. Jeff Fahy and validated by Steve Horvath) (book title: The illusion of knowledge: the paradigm shift in aging research that shows the way to human rejuvenation, available at Amazon).

Wonderful read!

[neilchristensen]

The progress in this area is incredible and this will make the use of stem cells much less expensive, so this is a big win. I have to admit, however, that I am nervous about what it means to hide these cells from the immune system. There are times when we want our immune system to attack cells, such as when they are senescent or cancerous. So, could this approach create unintended problems down the road? I would appreciate other's insight into this.

[fabzyL]

Pretty sure within a decade. Atherosclerosis’ been treated via CRISPR, already. Awfully close

[SallyEndinberg]

Does anyone know if CRISPR has been tried in cats 🐈 🐈‍⬛ yet?

[JP-wdyo]

AgeX iTR is needs hypoimmunogenic attribute to move forward, someone should let Michael West know ... he probably already does

[agnosticmuslim]

What if these cells go rogue in the host body? Wouldn't the same Immunity evading mechanism help those mutated pluripotent cells to escape correction and end up becoming a cancer with poor prognosis if not worse?

One solution I can suggest is to also add specific synthetic "identifier" sequences using cas9 which would not only help identify the cancer origin (whether from the host or the transferred stem cell), but also help target using specific enzymes targeting this specific sequence so that you can get rid of it whenever something may go wrong with this treatment.

[PhilosopherRex]

The immune system is very important in destroying rogue, potentially cancerous cells ... so this work doesn't look like a solution to me.

[viktoriyaforrest]

If not for restorative medicine then this CRISPR-Cas9 thing will be invaluable for transplants. It will be truly great not to seek the appropriate donor and just take any organ and use it as transplant.

[kojimapromeatspin]

Aren't MSC's immune privileged?