Mouse Regeneration: Could It Work in Humans?

[evolution12]

Have they tried to make dogs and other animals regenerate like this?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article559955.ece
http://singularityhub.com/2010/05/11/the-incredible-regenerating-mouse/

Could you inject mouse cells, or cells from another animal, (Foetal liver cells- or stem cells- not sure which it was-) into humans? And have them gain the power of regeneration, potentially, from that? Assuming injecting the cells into other mice gave them the power of regeneration. (Since the cells are not an entire organ) or would rejection still occur/would that still not work?
When we injected foetal liver cells taken from those animals into ordinary mice, they too gained the power of regeneration. We found this persisted even six months after the injection.”

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I would caution you that neither of those links is a good source, the times being a newspaper and the singularityhub being a place to push ideology. If you want a good review on the subject here is one that deals with http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B986R-503SKK8-G-1&_cdi=59133&_user=125795&_pii=S1472648310606050&_origin=&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2008&_sk=999839996&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlW-zSkWl&md5=eb0ca8eb401a5cf35c203388783bf4a0&ie=/sdarticle.pdf .

MRL mice are an interesting and rare form of mammal that have the ability to regenerate some tissues rather than repairing them. The first discovery of their capability was made by http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WX0-45FJYM0-11-1&_cdi=7144&_user=125795&_pii=S1084952199903282&_origin=&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F1999&_sk=999899995&view=c&wchp=dGLbVzz-zSkWA&md5=fd966c8385f2616b30ec99fd0bd436c8&ie=/sdarticle.pdf when it was observed that MRL mice subjected to ear clipping regenerated the lost tissue (IIRC within a month). Further study has revealed that MRL mice are capable of regenerating heart tissue and most surprisingly nerve tissue.

Where did you get the quote from about injecting cells into other mice? I've never heard of it but it sounds like microchimerism.

Unfortunately you cannot just inject cells from another animal into a human and expect it to work. Firstly there would be immunogenicity issues and secondly mouse cells work on mice. Human biology is quite different, this is related to the fact that we have cured certain diseases in mice only to find that the cure doesn't work in humans.

There is much interest in studying animals that regenerate tissue for applications in human medicine. Unfortunately animals vary greatly from us in their genetics and biochemistry, therefore it is unlikely that there will ever be a way to simply copy the processes seen. However by examining animals such as MRL mice we may be able to learn how their mammalian biology (not exact but much closer to our own) accomplishes these regenerations, this could greatly help us develop techniques to manipulate human wound healing in similar ways.

 

[evolution12]

I did figure that those links were not the best sources for accurate information
Why haven't they tried making a dog and other animals regenerate like the mice? It seems like it would be possible to supress the protein in a dog/other animals by using http://www.gene-tools.com/ morpholino antisense, or other methods

I think I have a read in a few places that by injecting cells (not sure exactly what types of cells? Stem cells?) from the mice that can regenerate into mice they gain the ability to regenerate. (not sure to what degree)
Even if the mouse cells did for some reason give humans the ability to regenerate- would immunogenicity issues make it too difficult to inject cells from mice, dogs, etc into humans to give them the ability to regenerate? (Assuming that injecting the cells from other animals into a human would give the human the ability to regenerate, since the mice, apparently gain the ability to regenerate at least to a degree when they have the cells injected into them) (Also referring to cells, not entire organs)

Unfortunately you cannot just inject cells from another animal into a human and expect it to work. Firstly there would be immunogenicity issues and secondly mouse cells work on mice. Human biology is quite different, this is related to the fact that we have cured certain diseases in mice only to find that the cure doesn't work in humans.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I did figure that those links were not the best sources for accurate information
Why haven't they tried making a dog and other animals regenerate like the mice? It seems like it would be possible to supress the protein in a dog/other animals by using http://www.gene-tools.com/ morpholino antisense, or other methods

I'm unaware of any studies so far. A lot of research on MRL mice is focusing on figuring out just how they do it. The processes in the mouse are probably very different to that of any other animal, it might be that in MRL mice there are a specific sequence of mutations that allow them to regenerate however in other animals these mutations would most likely not produce the same results. First we need to research precisely what mechanisms come into play then see if they are applicable elsewhere.

I think I have a read in a few places that by injecting cells (not sure exactly what types of cells? Stem cells?) from the mice that can regenerate into mice they gain the ability to regenerate. (not sure to what degree)

Can you find a citation for that please, it sounds very suspicious. When a foreign cell is introduced to the body it is identified and an immune response occurs.

 

[evolution12]

I keep reading references to mice gaining the ability to regenerate via cells being injected into them or things like that, but, I know I need to find new scientific sources to verify that information for example I read this I know its not a scientific enough source and that I need to find scientific sources. But I keep seeing that fact in multiple places so perhaps there is something to it?

http://www.wired.com/medtech/genetics/news/2005/09/68962
The researchers also made a remarkable second discovery: When cells from the regenerative mice were injected into normal mice, the normal mice adopted the ability to regenerate. And when the special mice bred with normal mice, their offspring inherited souped-up regeneration capabilities.

 

[evolution12]

but nonetheless there would be too much of a problem with the immune system, for someone to inject cells from a mouse or other animal that can regenerate, into a human, right? (Even if it would somehow help the human to be able to regenerate.) (Although if I can't find scientific sources, I guess its not clear yet whether or not injecting cells from regenerative mice into non-regenerative mice can help the non regenerative mice regenerate)

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Yes try to find a peer-reviewed source. If it is true its probably an odd example of microchimerism (linked in a post above)

but nonetheless there would be too much of a problem with the immune system, for someone to inject cells from a mouse or other animal that can regenerate, into a human, right? (Even if it would somehow help the human to be able to regenerate.) (Although if I can't find scientific sources, I guess its not clear yet whether or not injecting cells from regenerative mice into non-regenerative mice can help the non regenerative mice regenerate)

Even if there were no immune issues mice cells are programmed with mouse DNA. They would respond and behave differently to human cells. It's illogical to assume that if we injected mouse cells into human heart tissue that the human heart would regenerate human tissue.

As I said before whatever combination of genes allows the mice to do this may not exist in other species, may have different functions or may interfere with other processes.

 

[evolution12]

Im not sure, but I think if you suppress a protein in any mouse it allows them to regenerate at least to a limited degree- so why haven't they tried it in rabbits and other animals? Since all they would need to do to see if it works is repress a protein? ( I could be wrong though- I would have to look up the original article obviously)

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I can't really answer your question without a reference to a paper outlining how this suppression was done and what the effects were. I'm a little busy right now to look it up myself I'm afraid.

If it is true that suppressing a single protein can enhance regeneration (sounds dubious though) then it may be that this protein doesn't exist in other animals or that tests have been done but shown that a different result it observed.

It seems unlikely from an evolutionary standpoint that a protein that allows greater levels of healing when inactivated would be conserved across the mammalian kingdom.

 

[evolution12]

This is what I am referring to
Mice that lack the p21 gene gain the ability to regenerate lost appendages.[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P21
So, I am not sure whether they suppress the gene, or the protein, (I guess you could suppress the protein with morpholino antisense?) and I could try to find more references to suppressing the gene/protein equalling regeneration, but, so my question is: Why not suppress this gene/protein in other animals, like dogs, rabbits, etc? (assuming that the mice lacking the p21 gene/protein regenerate just as well as the other regenerating mice) Is your answer to that question, that this protein doesn't exist in other animals (I thought that it did?) or that tests have been done but those tests showed different results? Is it possible this regeneration test should be done in animals other than mice and that they just haven't done those tests in animals other than mice yet?