Research shows potential for a new “off-the-shelf” cell-based therapy for tissue healing

Researchers from Monash University, led by Associate Professor Mikaël Martino from the university’s Australian Regenerative Medical Research Institute, have discovered a cell in blood which can rapidly promote healing, suggesting potential in off-the-shelf therapies.

The group’s research showed cells known as Regulatory T cells “rapidly becoming a cell type specific for the injury it needs to heal” when introduced to a damaged bone, muscle or skin injury, and “regulat[ing] other injury healing cells to the site, flooding the injury with beneficial factors”, according to a statement from Monash. 

Their work was published in Nature Communications (accessible at the link) and involved studies in animal models using human cells.

“In animal models these cells have been shown to improve cardiac repair post-heart attack and bone remodelling in osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease,” Martino explained in a statement.

“…cells can be cultured and kept on the shelf prior to administration which means they could be banked or even become “off the shelf” products which can be injected into injury sites.”

Martino added that the researchers expect augmenting Regulatory T cell numbers locally as early as possible after tissue damage would be the most beneficial therapeutic strategy for healing, “and that healing can be further enhanced by the addition of factors they secrete into the injured tissue.”

Picture: Credit Rama (Wikimedia Commons)