中国科学家制造基因改良人类血管细胞
Chinese scientists produced the world's first genetically-engineered human blood vessel cells, providing a promising option for therapeutic use.
中国科学家制造出世界第一个基因工程人类血管细胞，为相关治疗带来了希望。
The study published on Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell showed that human vascular cell function can be enhanced by editing a single longevity-related gene.
Scientists from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Peking University and the Institute of Zoology of CAS targeted a gene called FOXO3, an important regulator to delay cellular aging, resist stresses and enhance cardiovascular balance.
The technique can also resist the cells' transformation into tumors. The risk of tumor transformation used to be a major concern for the application of the gene-editing technology.
The researchers tested it in a mouse model with blood-shortage or ischemic injury and found that those cells promoted vascular regeneration and resisted tumor transformation both in vitro and in vivo.
They expected to use gene-editing strategies in the future to produce high-quality, safe human vascular cell grafts in a large-scale and standardized manner.