Dr. Chandan Sen

Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough

“Injured or compromised organs can be replaced”

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State’s College of Engineering have developed a new technology, Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), that can generate any cell type of interest for treatment within the patient’s own body. This technology may be used to repair injured tissue or restore function of aging tissue, including organs, blood vessels and nerve cells.

Results of the regenerative medicine study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. 

“By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining,” said Dr. Chandan Sen, director of Ohio State’s Center for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Based Therapies, who co-led the study with L. James Lee, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with Ohio State’s College of Engineering in collaboration with Ohio State’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.

Show highlights:

-Regenerative medicine is the ability to restore organ function after injury or decay from age using the body’s natural ability.

-The body is born with the ability to regenerate, as seen with fetus development.  That plasticity degrades with age.

-Adult stem cells can be converted to stem cells for specific tissue types with 4 added factors.

-Dr. Sen”s method achieves conversion within the body, as opposed to when stem cells are cultivated in the lab in vitro.  Cells grown with his method are adapted to the body already and do much better than when lab-grown stem cells are transplanted into the body.

-Dr. Sen’s team has published results of two successful research investigations.  1) Restored a severed femoral artery in a mouse leg.  2) Restored function in a stroke-injured mouse by converting skin cells to brain cells, establishing them on the skin, and  then moving them to the brain.

-New blood vessels can grow around the damaged part.  Injured tissue sends chemical signals that it needs help, and those signals attract new blood vessel growth to the damaged tissue area.

-The body was designed to die.  Defensive mechanisms grow weaker with age.  When older, the body favors rejection of life, whereas when young, it favors regeneration.

-Cycle of life is structured to terminate life to make room for new life coming in.

-How to make skin cells into brain cells?  In the fetus, there are signals that convert tissue into brain cells.  Can recapitulate that phenomenon by growing skin cells with 3 transcription factors (gene regulators).  He doesn’t use any stem cells.

-Induced pluripotent stem cells can be persuaded to become a specific tissue type.  But some cells don’t convert to a specific tissue type and have the potential to become cancer cells.  He bypasses the intermediary step of stem cells to avoid that risk.

-He instead does a direct conversion, going from cell A to cell B without any stem cell intermediary.  Dead cells are removed with enzymes injected into the skin.  A chip touches the skin for less than a second along with a pulse of electricity that drives the generative cord into the skin cells.  Takes 7 days to grow cardiac tissue, 21 days for brain tissue.

-Dr. Sen envisions the procedure would costs tens of dollars after future licensing.

-Can it grow new limbs?  Need to be able to find all the cells from your own body.

-Stem cells can become anything.  Unless you have a mechanism in place to guide them to their intended fate, they could become what you don’t want.  He wouldn’t have stem cells injected into him unless there was a mechanism to ensure the cells won’t become uncontrollable.

-If considering a stem cell procedure, go to clinicaltrials.gov to see the research on stem cells.  There is promise, but it’s not ready for prime time.

-Can you create a new beta cell for type 1 diabetes?  They have done it in the lab.  First problem to overcome: All the hyperglycemic mice become hypoglycemic.

-Glycation is caused by high sugar for a long time.  Sugar coats proteins, and the protein loses its function.  Glycated A1C means high sugar bound to hemoglobin as well as impairments of other functions.

-Carmen asks about concerns with nanotechnology.  Both synthetic and organic have room to play together.  What they inject uses nano scale syringes and electropulse to drive the biological factors into the body, but they’re not injecting anything synthetic.  Are not inserting nanotechnology into the body, but are using it outside the body to create the biological factors.

-Any intervention must consider all options.  If any approach says there are no side effects, they haven’t researched it enough.  If you take things that are already in your body, the body will accept it better than something foreign to it.  The procedures takes signals that were abundant in you at one time, and using those same signals to repair you.

-Now preparing documents for presentation to the FDA.  Expect to work on people within 2 years.  Nothing about the procedure is highly risky.  It starts with failures and you overcome those failures.

-The technology is owned by Ohio State University.  Their business model will decide the commercial nature.

-Why does the body age?  Dr. Sen is editor of Antioxidants and Redox Signaling and well versed in antioxidants.  Life is oxygen driven combustion.  Oxygen generates energy but also molecules that contribute to oxidation.  Excessive use of antioxidants is not recommended.  Competitive sports such as marathons result in a lot of oxidation insult in the body, as well as smoking, excessive alcoholism, and psychosocial stress.  Recommends habitual exercise, in a milder format,at 50-60% of aerobic capacity for 3-4 days a week.

-Ohio State University has additional websites on Dr. Sen.

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Dr. Chandan Sen with some fascinating cutting edge research into healing, October 10, 2017