NYU Abu Dhabi researchers unlock secrets behind liver regrowth and regenerative medicine
New insight into the liver's unique ability to regenerate holds promise for developing treatments for the lung, heart, and other organs that currently must be replaced by transplants
2021-07-06
(Press-News.org) Abu Dhabi, UAE, July 5, 2021: NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) researchers uncovered a code that sets the genome of the liver to account for the remarkable ability for this organ to regenerate. This finding offers new insight into how the specific genes that promote regeneration can be activated when part of the liver is removed. These findings have the potential to inform the development of a new form of regenerative medicine that could help non-regenerative organs regrow in mice and humans.
While other animals can regenerate most organs, humans, mice, and other mammals can only regenerate their liver in response to an injury or when a piece is removed. NYUAD researchers hypothesized that the genes that drive regeneration in the liver would be controlled by a specific code that allows them to be activated in response to injury or resection. They hone in on the epigenome, which is the modifications on the DNA that alter the gene expression, as opposed to changing the genetic code itself.
Using a mouse liver model, the team of NYUAD researchers, led by Professor of Biology Kirsten Sadler Edepli, identified the elements of the epigenetic code present in quiescent liver cells - cells that are currently not replicating but have the ability to proliferate under the right conditions - that activate specific genes to regenerate. Genes involved in liver cell proliferation are silenced in livers that are not regenerating, but the surprising finding was that they reside in parts of the genome where most genes are active. The researchers found that these pro-regenerative genes were marked with a specific modification - H3K27me3. During regeneration, H3K27me3 is depleted from these genes, enabling their dynamic expression and driving proliferation.
In the paper Chromatin states shaped by an epigenetic code confer regenerative potential to the mouse liver published in the journal Nature Communications, Sadler and the lead research scientist on her team, Chi Zhang, present the discovery that the mouse liver contains elements of the epigenetic code that allow pro-regenerative genes to activate when signaled. Epigenetic patterns are a well-established mechanism that coordinate gene expression. However, the way epigenetic patterns contribute to gene expression in the liver or how they impact liver regeneration was previously unknown. Their research uncovered six distinct chromatin states in the mouse liver corresponding to specific epigenetic marks, providing the first chromatin map of this important organ and showing that the elements of this map are essential for liver regeneration. This finding provides a mechanism that keeps cells in the liver in a "ready-set-go" state, in preparation for the signal to regenerate.
"The secret to regeneration is locked in a code in the liver epigenome. We are now studying the 'writers' of the epigenetic code -- the enzymes that create the epigenetic marks -- to see how this epigenetic code responds to aging, as the liver's ability to regenerate declines in older animals - including humans," said Sadler. "The continued study of the liver's remarkable ability to regenerate provides promise for the development of regenerative medicine; perhaps we can even try to write the code that allows regeneration in the young liver to cells in older animals, or even to tweak this code in other organs that don't regenerate and currently can only be replaced using complex, high-risk transplants."
INFORMATION:
About NYU Abu Dhabi
http://www.nyuad.nyu.edu
NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity's shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi's high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-07-06
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rings a bell for many, due to its rampant references in pop culture, and more, importantly, its prevalence in today's society. It is only probable that this disorder, which develops after shocking or dangerous events, would unfortunately affect the lives of many people. Medical researchers have been hard at work trying to come up with solutions to combat this condition and its manifestations effectively. Unfortunately, the neurological mechanisms of PTSD aren't clear, and without knowing this exactly, trying to find a cure is a shot in the dark.
Fortunately, a group ...
2021-07-06
"Plant a hundred kinds of crops"
Wangjinzhuang village is nestled amongst the steep slopes of the South Taihang Mountains in Hebei Province, China. To prosper in the northern climate, the villagers have developed a tried-and-true strategy: "using the land to plant a hundred kinds of crops and not rely on the sky". Their fields contain red millet, white sorghum, purple and green eyebrow beans, and yellow radishes. Having survived for over a thousand years, this agrobiodiversity is a vibrant cornerstone of the village's agricultural heritage that is too precious to lose.
In an effort to combat dwindling crop diversity across China (the Ministry of Agriculture found that of 11,590 grain crop varieties planted ...
2021-07-06
Cardiovascular drugs do not affect COVID-19 outcomes--such as disease severity, hospitalizations, or deaths--according to an analysis of all relevant studies published as of November 2020. The findings are published in the END ...
2021-07-06
BOSTON - Significant amounts of atherosclerotic plaque have been found in the coronary arteries of people with HIV, even in those considered by traditional measures to be at low-to-moderate risk of future heart disease, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
This finding emerged from the global REPRIEVE (Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV) study, in which Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is playing a key coordinating role. Researchers found that the higher-than-expected levels of plaque could not be attributed simply to traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors like smoking, hypertension, and lipids in the blood, but were independently related to increased arterial inflammation ...
2021-07-06
The expected decline in the number of landfills across the United States coupled with bans on disposing large amounts of organic waste in landfills that have been enacted in multiple states has prompted researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to examine other ways to grapple with the issue of food waste disposal.
The researchers determined no single solution exists in the United States for dealing with food waste disposal. NREL researchers Alex Badgett and Anelia Milbrandt came to that conclusion after examining the economics involved in five different ways to ...
2021-07-06
In Brazil, researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Medical School (FM-USP) have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in the salivary glands.
Analysis of samples from three types of salivary gland obtained during a minimally invasive autopsy procedure performed on patients who died from complications of COVID-19 at Hospital das Clínicas, FM-USP’s hospital complex, showed that tissues specializing in producing and secreting saliva serve as reservoirs for the novel coronavirus.
The study was supported by FAPESP and reported in an article published in the Journal of Pathology.
The researchers said the discovery ...
2021-07-06
Bioenergy crops are an alternative energy source that, unlike fossil fuels, could positively impact the environment by reducing greenhouse gases, soil erosion, and carbon dioxide levels. They can be produced even more sustainably if they are grown on poor quality land unsuitable for food. To make up for the poor land quality, these crops can rely on soil microbes like bacteria and fungi to help them access nutrients and water and store more carbon.
Switchgrass, a native prairie species, is championed as a promising bioenergy crop due to its ability to grow across many climates. ...
2021-07-06
BUFFALO, N.Y. - How the media frame stories about science affects the public's perception about scientific accuracy and reliability, and one particular type of narrative can help ameliorate the harm to science's reputation sometimes caused by different journalistic approaches to scientific storytelling, according to a new study led by a University at Buffalo researcher.
"What our experiment shows is that the way the news media talk about science focuses too much attention on individuals in a way that doesn't accurately describe the way science actually works," says ...
2021-07-06
Amid calls for racial and social justice nationwide, businesses and educational institutions are grappling with how to adopt more inclusive organizational practices, including more diversified hiring. However, recruitment teams and strategic leaders often blame their lack of a diverse workforce on a lack of diverse applicants. A large study of recruitment data suggests a simple and efficient way of increasing diversity in applicant pools: have more diverse recruitment committees and leadership teams.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Houston's Center for ADVANCING ...
2021-07-06
Findings from a study published today [6 July] in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) have prompted new World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations to use interleukin-6 antagonists in patients with severe or critical COVID-19 along with corticosteroids.
A new analysis of 27 randomised trials involving nearly 11,000 patients found that treating hospitalised COVID-19 patients with drugs that block the effects of interleukin-6 (the interleukin-6 antagonists tocilizumab and sarilumab) reduces the risk of death and the need for mechanical ventilation.
The study, which was coordinated by WHO in partnership with King's College London, University of Bristol, University ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] NYU Abu Dhabi researchers unlock secrets behind liver regrowth and regenerative medicine
New insight into the liver's unique ability to regenerate holds promise for developing treatments for the lung, heart, and other organs that currently must be replaced by transplants