Transdifferentiation means converting one sort of cell into another.
Our bodies are composed of a huge array of cells. There are about 300 different types of cell, each specialised for a specific function. For example the nerve cells conduct signals around the body, muscle cells contract to produce movement and intestinal cells absorb food from the gut.
Many common diseases such as cancer, heart disease or stroke, cause damage to specific structures and organs within the body. To repair the organs requires being able to regenerate the correct types of cell in the damaged areas. One possible method is to graft in stem cells, which may be able to replace any type of cell. Another possiblilty is to replace the missing function by causing transdifferentiation (or conversion) of existing cells. This strategy is likely to work best in the case of endocrine organs whose function is to secrete hormones into the blood. This is because the exact location of an endocrine gland within the body does not matter, and, so long as it has access to the bloodstream, a replacement organ could be successfully created by transdifferentiation in an unusual position.
Building on studies of normal developmental mechanisms, our laboratory at the University of Bath, UK, has so far developed methods for converting liver to pancreas and pancreas to liver.
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Pancreas cells converted to liver by insertion of a protein: C/EBPß (green cells are hepatic) |
Liver converted to pancreas by insertion of a protein: XIHbox8-VP16 (arrow shows transdifferentiated liver) |
Transdifferentiation of liver to pancreas has considerable
clinical significance as a potential novel therapy for diabetes.
We are currently researching methods to interconvert other tissue types,
especially the different tissues of the gut and associated structures,
which are all derived from the innermost tissue layer of the early embryo,
called the endoderm.
This research embraces study of the mechanism of a naturally occurring
transformation called Barrett’s metaplasia.
At present these techniques are experimental and cannot be applied to human beings.
Theory of Transdifferentiation