Hummingbird News Desk
GUWAHATI, 20 FEB: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed a “Recombinant Protein Toolbox” that can be used to convert healthy skin cells or somatic cells from an adult human body into cardiomyocytes – heart cells.
Led by Assistant Professor Dr. Rajkumar P. Thummer and his research scholar Krishna Kumar Haridhasapavalan, the team has produced six special proteins that can reprogram skin cells to have the same function as the original heart cells, facilitating the generation of autologous heart cells in a lab.
Heart disease is a major cause of death worldwide, and the only way to treat it is with a new heart. However, there aren’t enough hearts available for transplantation, and it can be difficult to ensure the new heart is accepted by the body. In animals like the Zebrafish, the heart can grow back after being damaged, but in humans, the heart usually gets scar tissue instead of growing new heart cells. As a result, scientists around the world are studying ways to convert regular body cells into heart cells, which could help regenerate damaged hearts.
The challenge is to find a safe and effective way to do this, as cells can change in ways that could be harmful. To address this challenge, the IIT Guwahati team used proteins produced from another source to convert cells from one form to another in a process known as cellular reprogramming.
The proteins, called transcription factors, alter the expression of genes within a cell and direct it to take on a new cellular identity. The team successfully produced cell-permeant recombinant proteins that can convert skin cells to heart cells, making them more like that of heart cells.
The team has collaborated with Dr. Vishwas Kaveeshwar from the Central Research Laboratory at SDM College of Medical Sciences and Hospital in Dharwad, Karnataka, to validate the biological activity of the recombinant fusion proteins. The team’s research publications in different journals have addressed several challenges associated with the heterologous production of these recombinant proteins.
Dr. Rajkumar P. Thummer, Assistant Professor, Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati said, “Recombinant protein-based cellular reprogramming is a promising alternative and the safest approach among other available non-integration approaches. As these proteins do not modify or alter the genome of the cells, the cells generated using this reprogramming approach have a high cell therapeutic value.”
Krishna Kumar Haridhasapavalan, Research Scholar at IIT Guwahati, added that the recombinant proteins can be delivered to target sites without the need for any harmful reagents. These proteins can also be studied for their role in various cancers as suppressors or promoters of tumor growth.
The development of the “Recombinant Protein Toolbox” offers a new way to generate autologous heart cells in a lab, which could potentially help regenerate damaged heart tissues. The research also provides a promising approach for studying the role of these proteins in various cancers.
Tags: #IITGuwahati #RecombinantProteinToolbox #CardiacProteins
