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Medication: Nanoparticles for Imaging and Drug Delivery
Published in Harry F. Tibbals, Medical Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, 2017
The most promising alternative nonviral strategy effectively bypasses gene therapy by using epigenetics. Cells can be effectively reprogrammed using epigenetic factors without classical gene therapy. Instead of modifying the genome, epigenetic factors alter the expression of genes at later stages of transcription. Gene expression is regulated by many factors, including influence by proteins produced by other genes, and other regulating molecules. One recent line of research uses nanoassembled programming macromolecules consisting of cell-penetrating peptides (or transduction peptides), assembled with protein epigenetic factors, which can regulate genetic expression if delivered into the right cell compartments where transcription and gene expression take place. Transduction peptides, modeled on peptides produced by some viruses to penetrate and deliver material into cells, have been developed into delivery tools for small molecule drugs since their discovery in the 1980s [458,459]. The demonstrated ability to reprogram cells using semiochemical or epigenetic factors is relatively recent. These factors include molecules such as peptides, microRNA, and other substances that interact with the gene expression and transcription process. Nanotechnologies have enabled the actions of these compounds to be traced, captured, isolated, and further studied to understand how they can be used for therapeutic beneit. The goal is to regenerate diseased or damaged tissues by reprogramming cells, which would be a truly revolutionary development. How gene therapy, epigenetics, and other cell therapies are used in conjunction with nanotech-nologies to support cell environments will be a subject in Chapter 7 on tissue regeneration and integrated nanotherapies.
Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Derivation
Published in Deepak A. Lamba, Patient-Specific Stem Cells, 2017
Uthra Rajamani, Lindsay Lenaeus, Loren Ornelas, Dhruv Sareen
The optimal delivery of reprogramming factors is crucial in achieving pluripotency, and as this is a rapidly developing field, several techniques have been employed for the generation of iPSCs. In addition, numerous starting cell types have been utilized in the derivation of iPSCs. As mentioned earlier, reprogramming involves the introduction of pluripotency transcription factors into somatic cells, rendering them with pluripotent abilities (Figure 1.2). The key reprogramming factors involved in inducing pluripotency are discussed in the following.
Stem Cell Biology: An Overview
Published in Jyoti Ranjan Rout, Rout George Kerry, Abinash Dutta, Biotechnological Advances for Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Nanotechnology, 2022
IPSCS are the adult somatic cells, which are reprogrammed with the aid of reprogramming factors (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, cMyc, Nanog, etc.) to attain the embryonic-like pluripotent state that allows them to grow and differentiate into any cell type. Differentiation is not a one-way road. It can be reprogrammed, and developmental efficacy can be returned in a somatic nucleus.
Derivation of induced pluripotent stem cell lines from New Zealand donors
Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2022
Jin Kyo Oh, Aneta Przepiorski, Hao-Han Chang, Rachel C. Dodd, Veronika Sander, Brie Sorrenson, Jen-Hsing Shih, Jennifer A. Hollywood, Janak R. de Zoysa, Peter R. Shepherd, Alan J. Davidson, Teresa M. Holm
In his pioneering work published in Cell in 2007 (Takahashi et al. 2007), Shinya Yamanaka demonstrated reprogramming of adult somatic cells into a pluripotent state by ectopic expression of the four transcription factors OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4 and cMYC (aka OSKM or ‘Yamanaka’ factors). Like embryonic stem cells (ESC), these ‘induced pluripotent stem cells’ (iPSC) are capable of indefinite self-renewal as well as differentiation into the three germ layers and subsequently all cell types of the body (Evans and Kaufman 1981; Martin 1981). As such, iPSCs circumvent restrictions and ethical concerns and represent a unique source of cells for studying developmental processes and disease mechanisms. The reprogramming technology also allows for generating patient-specific iPSCs, thus paving the way to personalised therapies for various diseases and injuries, such as type 1 diabetes and spinal cord injury (Pagliuca et al. 2014; Millman et al. 2016; Gazdic et al. 2018).
Anticipation: learning from the past. The Russian/Soviet contributions to the science of anticipation
Published in International Journal of General Systems, 2018
Accordingly, the object of research, i.e. the external world and its environment, is dynamic (as the subject researcher must be) and subject to irreversible time. The time feature is constitutive and ontological; but for scientific research it means awareness of every factor and condition. It makes possible the reprogramming of living cells and organisms (Takahashi and Yamanaka 2016). Reversible time could be another ontological feature of the living. (By the way, this reprogramming again shows that the fundamental telos of the organism is its biologically balanced functioning; and obviously, at the level of human beings, this functioning is highly dependent on superior psychological cognition and emotions.)
Sunni Islamic perspectives on lab-grown sperm and eggs derived from stem cells – in vitro gametogenesis (IVG)
Published in The New Bioethics, 2023
Gamal Serour, Mohammed Ghaly, Shaikh Mohd Saifuddeen, Ayaz Anwar, Noor Munirah Isa, Alexis Heng Boon Chin
IVG technology is one of the newest chapters in the history of modern biomedical advancements. Although its success has only been demonstrated in rodents (Zhou et al.2016, Yang and Ng 2021, Yoshino et al.2021, Oikawa et al.2022), its hypothetical application to humans already raises serious ethical questions and challenges. Previous experience, such as the Human Genome Project, shows the necessity of addressing such challenges with enough time beforehand through the lens of various religious and moral traditions. Based on the examination of the ethical dimensions of various possible IVG applications from an Islamic perspective, the authors hereby conclude the following: The technical differences between the IVG technology and the earlier IVF technology do not entail morally significant differences that would make the IVG inherently bad from an Islamic perspective.By strictly adhering to a number of Islamic ethical principles related to marriage, biological/genetic relatedness, sexual intercourse, moral status of the embryo/fetus versus that of the gamete, and benefit-harm assessment, using the IVG technology, once its efficacy and safety are guaranteed, is expected to be permissible.The utilization of IVG will be morally acceptable for treating primary infertility, age-related infertility, and preventing genetic diseases, provided no genomic modification is involved. This may be facilitated by techniques for reprogramming somatic cells into ‘footprint-free’ induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) via delivery of synthetic mRNA or treatment with small molecule chemicals, which circumvents the use of recombinant DNA and viral vectors that invariably results in genomic modification (Heng et al.2013, Heng and Fussenegger 2014, Guan et al.2022).Application of IVG will however be unacceptable for posthumous reproduction, donor gametes, genetic enhancement, and procreation in same-sex partners.World religious traditions, like Islam, can be a catalyst for advancing science and concurrently help Muslims make use of its benefits in a morally responsible way.The centuries-old wisdom that Islam shares with other religious and moral traditions should make us all aware that these ultra-advanced reproductive technologies should not lead to the ‘technicalization’ of procreation. Having children is not only a medical or technical process that can be managed by healthcare professionals only. For many people around the world, begetting children is part of a broader moral framework related to how we perceive the institution of family and the rights and moral obligations of those who belong to this institution.