[rael-science] Remote-Controlled Gene Expression

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From: Damien Marsic <damien.marsic@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, May 7, 2012 at 3:39 PM
Subject: In Praise of Soft Rationality and Rational Spirituality
To: Rael Science <rael-science@googlegroups.com>


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Source: http://www.biotechniques.com/news/biotechniquesNews/biotechniques-330243.html?utm_source=BioTechniques+Newsletters+%2526+e-Alerts&utm_campaign=d7f3319e04-Daily_03162012&utm_medium=email

Remote-Controlled Gene Expression

05/07/2012

Diana Gitig, Ph.D.

Remote-control helicopters are pretty cool, but Jeffrey Friedman’s lab has engineered cells that can be stimulated to secrete functional insulin with radio waves. Much cooler.

The ability to induce or repress gene expression in a spatial or temporal manner has been invaluable in basic research. It could be a huge clinical boon, too, but the induction or repression is usually achieved by light stimulation or the addition of a drug. While easy enough in tissue culture, these methods are not ideal for patients. So, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues at the Rockefeller University have genetically engineered cells to secrete insulin in response to radio waves. Their results are published in Science (1).

Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues at the Rockefeller University have genetically engineered cells to secrete insulin in response to radio waves. Source: Science

“Radio frequencies and nanoparticles both heat up, which is a nice feature,” said Sarah Stanley, the first author of the paper and a research associate in Friedman’s lab. Low and medium radio frequencies can penetrate deep tissues, but unlike the nanoparticles, tissues do not absorb significant amounts of energy from them. The team used antibodies to target iron oxide nanoparticles to a temperature sensitive channel. Upon exposure to the appropriate radio frequency, the nanoparticles tethered to the channel heat up, spurring the channel to open and allow calcium ions into the cell.

Then, the scientists also put a modified version of the human insulin gene, under the control of a calcium responsive promoter, into these cells. Thus the calcium influx generated by the warmed nanoparticles promoted expression of the insulin gene and insulin release from the cells.

First, they validated their system in vitro, in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cells and mouse embryonic stem cells. Then, they showed that it worked in vivo by subcutaneously injecting cells with all of the requisite components into nude mice. When the mice were exposed to the appropriate radio frequency, they experienced a significant increase in plasma insulin and a significant decrease in blood glucose. Their core temperature did not change significantly. Multiple controls, eliminating one component of the system at a time, demonstrated that the effect was specific.

Lastly, they made a version in situ, remotely controlling gene expression by engineering cells to synthesize nanoparticles intracellularly. For this they used ferritin, an iron storage protein that forms a naturally occurring paramagnetic iron nanoparticle. When cells overexpressing ferritin were also transfected with the channel and the modified human insulin gene, these endogenously generated nanoparticles heated up and promoted insulin secretion, although only about two-thirds as efficiently as the externally applied ones did.

“Nanoparticles containing different metals or different shapes will heat at different frequencies, so different cell populations in the same animal could be targeted with different radio frequencies,” said Stanley.

The technique does not require a permanent implant, and that the cells to be modified can be localized — in the case of exogenously applied nanoparticles — or dispersed — in the case of genetically encoded nanoparticles. Their method could one day be used to activate any calcium-dependent process or to treat deficiencies of proteins that are difficult to synthesize or deliver, like those needed in the central nervous system.

References

1. Stanley, S. A., J. E. Gagner, S. Damanpour, M. Yoshida, J. S. Dordick, and J. M. Friedman. 2012. Radio-Wave heating of iron oxide nanoparticles can regulate plasma glucose in mice. Science 336:604-608.

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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
 
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history, 
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
 
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
 
Rael
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