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Team to grow tissue in body
Mike Waites Health Correspondent SCIENTISTS in Yorkshire are heralding a revolution in treatment for life-threatening illnesses, with new techniques that allow tissues to be regenerated inside the body.
People undergoing heart and knee surgery will be among those who could benefit from new tissue-repair technology being developed at Leeds University.
The work, which has today received funding worth nearly 700,000 for further laboratory research, will lead to more effective surgery on diseased blood vessels and heart valves as well as damaged ligaments, tendons and cartilage in knees.
Recovery times will also be shortened thanks to the regenerative devices which could be part of a multi-million dollar global market.
Regenerative techniques have already been successfully used in important areas of medicine, including helping skin to grow again in burns patients and in regenerating nerves.
Mechanical engineer Prof John Fisher, who is chairman of university spin-out firm Tissue Regenix which is taking forward the research, said it was hoped clinical trials of the new approach could begin in two years and if successful it could become routinely available to patients.
Using their methods, naturally-occurring tissues are chemically altered to be bio-compatible with humans in the laboratory to create a basic "scaffold" for living tissue.
This would be implanted in patients and because it was recognised by the body it would allow cells to populate
the device which would become a natural part of the body.
He said the approach could be used in lifesaving surgery on blood vessels and heart valves for people with cardiovascular problems and, for example, with sporting knee injuries, to repair damaged tissues.
It had advantages over existing techniques which relied on using grafts from other parts of the body, which had limited use, or using artificial products which did not regenerate within the body.
The implants behaved like native tissues and were compatible with all blood and skin types.
He said: "The body will be able to recognise the implant and rapidly infiltrate it with its own cells.
"By regenerating in this way, it accelerates recovery and leads to more rapid rehabilitation."
Over the next two years work would continue to develop the product and manufacturing processes for clinical use.
He added: "In the longer term the expectation is that this will be a significant step forward in regenerative medicine. Diseased tissues will be replaced with tissues that can regenerate and live.
"We are delighted to have secured this funding. It is a major endorsement of our research and development as we prepare our novel tissue products for further testing and – ultimately – regulatory approval and clinical application."
The work is being taken forward by Tissue Regenix which developed from the university's faculties of engineering and biological sciences.
It has received 685,000 in finance from intellectual property company IP Group and the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund.
The company is based on research which has received funding of more than 2m over five years primarily from the UK research councils and the Children's Heart Surgery Fund.
Women who inherit a damaged gene have double the risk of developing breast cancer, according to research funded by the charity Cancer Research UK.
The gene, PALB2, joins two already associated with breast cancer BRCA1 and BRCA2.
The Institute of Cancer Research also showed that children who inherited two damaged copies of the gene, one from each parent, were likely to suffer from a serious disorder linked to childhood tumours. The studies are published in the journal, Nature Genetics.
mike.waites@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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