Scientists create a cell that precludes malignant growth

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-scientists-cell-precludes-malignant-growth.html

by alexahn • 2 years ago

23 12 2 years ago

phys.org

formvoltron• 2 years ago

So would using these cell modifications, in the case of growing organs perhaps, require germline modifications?

Or what are other types of uses for these cells?

stenl• 2 years ago

These cells won’t divide because they will fail to replicate their DNA due to the lack of thymidine. The use case is cell therapies, where you give the patient cells grown in the lab but you don’t want those cells to potentially divide and cause cancer. For example, CAR T therapy to treat cancer, or dopaminergic neuron replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease.

vaylian2• 2 years ago

This is really smart. By making it impossible for the cells to generate Thymidine, they can not create more DNA which is needed to produce the genome of two (possibly malignant) daughter cells. Why Thymidine? Because there is a key difference between DNA and RNA: DNA has Thymine while RNA has Uracil. Both DNA and RNA share the other 3 bases: Adenine, Cytosine and Guanine. The cell only needs additional DNA if it goes into cell division, but it needs RNA all the time for many cellular processes. Singling out Thymidine is a really cool idea!

tomlue• 2 years ago

wouldn't this cause issues with dna repair?

vaylian2• 2 years ago

I expect that, yes. The cell might die if the DNA damage occurred in a critical position.

adamredwoods• 2 years ago

This page didn't load for me, so here is the original article:

https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/molecular-ther...

jjk166• 2 years ago

In Jurassic Park there is a Lysine Contingency which was a genetic modification to prevent the dinosaurs from producing a key molecule, which in turn would prevent their escape and propagation in the wild.

science4sail• 2 years ago

I think that the original Jurassic Park book mentioned that the dinosaurs found a way to get around the lysine issue.

After all, humans can't produce lysine either, and we propagate in the wild just fine!

wpollock• 2 years ago

Hmm. "Life finds a way."

Scientists create a cell that precludes malignant growth

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