日前,，斯克里普斯研究所和美國加州大學(xué)圣地亞哥分校的科學(xué)家通過研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，皮膚細(xì)胞可以直接轉(zhuǎn)換成心臟細(xì)胞，這一轉(zhuǎn)換依靠一種細(xì)胞重組因子完成,，這一因子通常被用在胚胎樣干細(xì)胞制作上,。過去，科學(xué)家們曾經(jīng)在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里將老鼠的皮膚細(xì)胞還原成干細(xì)胞,，然后再轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)樾呐K細(xì)胞,。

新的研究成果加快了新心臟細(xì)胞形成的過程，整個轉(zhuǎn)變過程只需要5~6天,，而以前的研究則需要花費(fèi)幾個星期將皮膚細(xì)胞轉(zhuǎn)變成胚胎樣狀態(tài),，然后再需要更多的時間將其轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)樾呐K細(xì)胞。

皮膚細(xì)胞直接轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)樾呐K細(xì)胞,，可用于患者自己的皮膚細(xì)胞制造的心臟移植手術(shù)或幫助修復(fù)心臟病發(fā)作引起的傷害,。此外，科學(xué)家還想運(yùn)用這樣的細(xì)胞來研究某些遺傳的心臟病或其他器官的疾病,。（生物谷Bioon.com）

生物谷推薦原文出處：

Nature Cell Biology  doi:10.1038/ncb2164

Conversion of mouse fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes using a direct reprogramming strategy

Jem A. Efe,1 Simon Hilcove,1 Janghwan Kim,1 Hongyan Zhou,1 Kunfu Ouyang,2 Gang Wang,2 Ju Chen2 & Sheng Ding1

Here we show that conventional reprogramming towards pluripotency through overexpression of Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc can be shortcut and directed towards cardiogenesis in a fast and efficient manner. With as little as 4 days of transgenic expression of these factors, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) can be directly reprogrammed to spontaneously contracting patches of differentiated cardiomyocytes over a period of 11–12 days. Several lines of evidence suggest that a pluripotent intermediate is not involved. Our method represents a unique strategy that allows a transient, plastic developmental state established early in reprogramming to effectively function as a cellular transdifferentiation platform, the use of which could extend beyond cardiogenesis. Our study has potentially wide-ranging implications for induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-factor-based reprogramming and broadens the existing paradigm.