“Three-dimensional visualization of human blood vessels being assembled and sculpted in real time has been challenging,” said Dr. The researchers used specialized imaging methods to show that R-VECs in this natural matrix could self-assemble into an extensive functional vessel network capable of carrying human blood in a lab dish, a feat that the investigators believe has not been accomplished before. With this 3-D platform, which we call “Organ-On-VascularNet,” we can use R-VECs to build tissue-specific blood vessels that may help regenerate organs.” We also identified a mixture of three natural tissue-molding ‘matrix’ proteins that helped R-VECs to form blood vessels in devices that carry fluids and blood. Thus, they are re-educated to perform specialized vascular functions. “Our idea was to use ETV2 to reset vascular endothelial cells (abbreviated as R-VECs) to a fetal state in which they can adaptively form new vessels based on signals from the surrounding tissue. Palikuqi, who is now a postdoctoral scholar at University of California, San Francisco.
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“Adult endothelial cells don’t know how to make new blood vessels from scratch,” said Dr.
ETV2 is a “pioneer transcription factor,” or one that can reprogram cells by switching on or off a broad set of genes. Rafii’s lab, that a protein called ETV2, can profoundly change the properties of adult human blood vessels cells grown in culture. Brisa Palikuqi, a former postdoctoral associate in Dr. The new study is based on a discovery by first author Dr. Sina Rabbany, adjunct associate professor of bioengineering in medicine at WCM and dean of the DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science at Hofstra University. regulators to regenerate organs, largely due to the inability to get blood vessels to grow within artificial organs that can be connected to the host blood supply when transplanted,” said co-senior author Dr. “There is still no protocol approved by U.S. Additionally, blood vessels in each organ and tumor are different and success in regenerating damaged organs or targeting cancerous ones requires an understanding of how to customize blood vessels.Ĭurrent “organ-on-chip” models in which miniaturized tissues are lined by a single layer of blood vessels have shortcomings, as these technologies do not permit blood vessels to interact with and adjust to other cell types and their environment. Transplanted organs may fail because of poor blood supply. Shortages of donor organs and deficiencies in animal models of human disease pose hurdles in developing therapeutics and repairing or replacing injured organs. “We can also now decipher how cancerous blood vessels acquire their abnormal features, permitting identification of new druggable targets for tumors.”Įndothelial cells (CTRL-EC) and R-VECs growing in gel and lab dishesīlood vessel networks for organ regeneration Shahin Rafii, the director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM). “This advance allows us to generate a tissue-specific network of functional blood vessels to nourish and support a variety of model organs, or organoids, as well as the development of transplantable human pancreatic islets, which can be used for research studies and potentially for organ repair,” said senior author Dr. 9 in Nature, found that a key protein could rejuvenate adult human endothelial cells - the building blocks of blood vessels – returning them to a malleable state in which they readily grow and conform to surrounding tissues. The scientists, whose study was published Sept. The discovery will enable disease modeling, and may facilitate the future production of human transplantable organs and identification of new precision drugs to treat cancer. A team led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists has pioneered a method for manufacturing functioning human blood vessels and demonstrated that they can carry blood in lab-grown model organs and tumors.
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