Using single-cell RNA sequencing of deer antler at different stages of their annual cycle of regeneration, Chinese researchers have identified a progenitor cell population that drove antler regeneration. The authors of an accompanying editorial wrote the findings, which were published in the Feb. 24, 2023, issue of Science, “add to the emerging idea that blastema progenitor cells are a common stem cell type in mammalian appendage regeneration.”
An international team of researchers has created two bat stem cell lines that reveal an unusual number of viral sequences in bat cells compared with those of other mammals. Writing in an article posted online Feb. 21, 2023, in Cell, the scientists suggested that the unusual amount of viral genetic material found in the bat stem cells could explain why these mammals are largely unaffected by most viral infections, despite being able to transmit them.
Fifteen years ago, at the 2008 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), researchers announced that they had cured a patient – Timothy Ray Brown, initially known only as the Berlin Patient to preserve his privacy – of HIV through a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Now, as researchers are gathered in Seattle for CROI 2023, reports of another cured patient were published Feb. 20, 2023, in Nature Medicine. Ten years after receiving a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, and 4 years after stopping antiretroviral treatment (ART), a 53-year-old patient may have been cured of HIV infection.
Ryne Biotechnology Inc. has been awarded a US$4 million Clinical Stage Research Program (CLIN1) grant by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to advance its lead candidate RNDP-001 through IND submission in the next 12 months.
The first in vivo cell atlas of senescent tissue in skeletal muscle has identified the damaging properties of these cells and explained why they block muscle regeneration. According to a study at Pompeu Fabra University led by scientists from Altos Labs Inc., cell damage caused the senescence of the cells, which secreted toxic substances into the surrounding microenvironment, causing fibrosis and preventing tissue regeneration.
Orgenesis Inc. and Kurve Therapeutics Inc. have announced promising preclinical study results for intranasal administration of a cell-based oncolytic virus-bearing product.
Sana Biotechnology Inc. has outlined the status of its pipeline following a portfolio prioritization. The company remains on track to file an IND this year for SC-291, the company's HIP-modified, CD19-targeted allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapy, with initial clinical data expected next year.
Eterna Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a sponsored research agreement with a collaborator at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson).
Fibroblasts expressing the tumor suppressor p16INK4a (a marker of senescence) stimulated lung stem cells from young mice to repair damaged tissue, according to a study from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The finding calls into question therapies that eliminate these senescent cells without considering their beneficial role in tissue homeostasis.
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