Company cracks code to grow human cells

Cambridge spin-off builds system to reprogramme cells in breakthrough for diseases like Huntington’s

THE ability to grow billions of human cells on demand could open the door to lab-grown organs, cellular therapies and cures for conditions such as Huntington’s.

Now one British company has, literally, cracked the code for a new era of regenerative medicine.

Cambridge University spin-off Bit. Bio has developed a system for reprogramming stem cells into any cell in the human body in just a few days.

It raises the possibility of growing organs from scratch, or replacing lost or diseased cells, such as pancreatic islets – the cells producing insulin that are destroyed by the immune system in type 1 diabetes.

Prof Mark Kotter, the neurosurgeon who founded the company, told The Sunday Telegraph: “This is essentially treating biology as if it was software. We can switch on the programme from the inside and all cells in the culture turn into what we want. That’s pretty cool.”

Stem cells already contain the genetic information needed to become any cell, but turning on the programme to make specific cells has always proved tricky.

Traditionally, scientists have tried to mimic what happens during embryonic development, recreating the chemical environment present as cells grow.

Some have recreated low-frequency vibrations in the body to help the process, a technique called “nanokicking”.

However, it has been notoriously hard to control, with cells often growing into unwanted types.

At Bit.Bio, the team switches on a programme that makes specific cells from the inside – the same process used by the body. Proteins called transcription factors act like code words, telling the cell which parts of the DNA should wake up or stay silent.

Every cell needs a different code, and Bit.Bio has the key for cells including muscle cells, neurons, fat cells and liver cells. It is working with the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences to uncover the rest of the codes. Once the code is found, the team implants it using the Crispr gene editing system into special areas of the cell genome with no active DNA, to avoid interfering with other cell programmes.

Prof Kotter added: “Cell therapies are the most exciting opportunity we see.

“Medicine is moving away from older paradigms like antibodies or drugs or smart molecules toward cells which are intelligent, and can respond to their environment, so are ultra-effective.

“We will be announcing therapies later, but we’ll be looking for conditions with unmet need.” Developing human cells could aid researchers struggling to find animals for experiments.

Many late-stage human diseases like Alzheimer’s are not present in the animal kingdom, so researchers must engineer symptoms in lab mice and hope the work is transferable. It has mostly proved not to be, and is one reason dementia drugs can fail in human trials.

Earlier this month, Bit.Bio released a line of cells coded to contain the Huntington’s disease mutation. This will let researchers test treatments on the actual illness.