New sticker cells accelerate recovery of damaged skin or organ

A lizard uses a strategy in which it cuts off its own tail when facing danger, and regenerates the tail anew. Use of a "cellular sticker" developed recently by a Korean research team will likely enable humans to gain the regenerative capacity like a lizard.

Shin Gwan-woo, a chemistry professor at Sogang University, said on Tuesday that his team developed sticker cells to help recovery when attached to a damaged organ or skin, in collaboration with the bio-disease laboratory at Harvard University. A cellular sticker can be widely applied ranging from skin damaged after laser surgery and organ within human body.

Artificial prosthesis made from metal or plastic had been mostly used to treat a damaged organ, but such a measure would cause organ tissue to develop resistance, and hence presented limited efficacy in treatment.

The researchers produced sticker cells in fishnet structure by using a principle that if polymer containing ion is used, proteins are generated around polymer, reciprocally linked, and form a fishnet structure. The researchers conducted the experiment with sticker cells by using mice’s heart cells to find that the function of heart cells was maintained while recovering. Prof. Shin said, “If sticker cells are used on artificial heart value and breast prosthesis, we will be able to minimize rejection by the human body.”

yskwon@donga.com