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Interspecies blastocyst complementation holds great potential to address the global shortage of transplantable organs by growing human organs in animals. However, a major challenge in this approach is the limited chimerism of human cells in evolutionarily distant animal hosts due to various xenogeneic barriers. Here, we reveal that human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) struggle to adhere to animal PSCs. To overcome this barrier, we developed a synthetic biology strategy that leverages nanobody-antigen interactions to enhance interspecies cell adhesion. We engineered cells to express nanobodies and their corresponding antigens on their outer membranes, significantly improving adhesion between different species' PSCs during in vitro assays and increasing the chimerism of human PSCs in mouse embryos. Studying and manipulating interspecies pluripotent cell adhesion will provide valuable insights into cell interaction dynamics during chimera formation and early embryogenesis.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2024.07.010 | DOI Listing |
Acta Pharmacol Sin
September 2025
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is an aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis. Abnormal expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is closely linked to NSCLC progression, highlighting the need for effective FAK inhibitors in NSCLC treatment. In this study we conducted high-throughput virtual screening combined with cellular assays to identify potential FAK inhibitors for NSCLC treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenes Dev
September 2025
Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA;
For neurons to establish the correct connections in animal nervous systems, interactions between cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), expressed presynaptically and postsynaptically, are thought to guide neurons to their targets. Here, we assess the role that affinity between two cognate CAMs-DIP-α and Dpr10-plays in establishing the leg neuromuscular system in If affinity decreases or, surprisingly, increases past certain thresholds, motor neuron (MN) terminal branches fail to be maintained. Live imaging during development shows that when affinities are aberrant, MN filopodia are unable to productively engage their muscle targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurosci
September 2025
Retina and Optic Nerve Research Laboratory, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H4R2
At the glutamatergic synapses between rod photoreceptors and ON-type bipolar cells, neurotransmitter is detected by the postsynaptic metabotropic glutamate receptor mGluR6. This receptor forms trans-synaptic interactions with ELFN1, a presynaptic cell adhesion molecule expressed in rods, and ELFN1 is important for mGluR6 localization at bipolar cell dendritic tips. Here, we show that in mice of either sex lacking mGluR6, the presynaptic localization of ELFN1 is disrupted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt Heart J
September 2025
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tokushima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
The pharmacological blockade of mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) is a potential therapeutic approach to reduce cardiovascular complications. Recent studies suggest that MR blockers affect several extrarenal tissues, including vascular function. We investigated the effects of a novel non-steroidal selective MR blocker, esaxerenone, on vascular function and atherogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Invest Dermatol
September 2025
Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany. Electronic address:
Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune blistering disorder, which is caused by the loss of desmosomal cell-cell adhesion, initiated by the binding of IgG antibodies against the desmosomal components desmoglein (Dsg)1 and Dsg3. Dsg3-reactive CD4 T helper (Th) cells, in particular follicular Th (Tfh) cells, play a central role in autoantibody production by Dsg3-specific B cells. In this study, we challenged the concept that distinct Dsg3-reactive CD4 T cell subsets are critical in PV pathogenesis utilizing phenotypical and functional state-of-the-art ex vivo assays.
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