BRI Briefs
BWH Medical Staff News brings you BRI Briefs to share some of the latest research news coming out of the Biomedical Research Institute (BRI).
Evidence that Progenitor Cells Refresh Cardiomyocytes After Injury
Richard T. Lee, MD, of the Cardiovascular Division, and colleagues report in the July 29 Nature Medicine evidence from genetically engineered mice that major injuries typical of human diseases activate progenitor cells to regenerate adult mammalian cardiomyocytes, the pumping cells of heart muscle. During normal aging, however, the progenitor cells appear to be inactive.
Lee and colleagues observed this precursor cell activity in mice subjected to myocardial infarction or pressure overload, which is a stress comparable to high blood pressure. The researchers speculate that major stresses on the heart muscle trigger the regeneration process, but that this response is not adequate to repair the heart in the same way that an injured leg muscle repairs itself. Further research is needed.
Choline and Colorectal Adenomas Risk in Women
Previous research has shown that folate may cut risk for colon cancer, therefore, researchers at BWH assessed whether choline and betatine – nutrients like folate that are also involved in methyl-group metabolism – would lower risk for colorectal adenomas, which can possibly lead to colorectal cancer.
Eunyoung Cho, ScD, and colleagues in Channing Laboratory were surprised to find, however, that increased choline intake was associated with a greater risk for developing colorectal adenomas. There was no statistically significant relationship between betatine and colorectal adenomas risk. These findings appeared in the Aug. 7 Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers believe that these findings could represent the effects of other components in the foods from which choline was derived, i.e. red meats, eggs and poultry, and should be investigated further.
Newly Created Tumor Initiating Cells May Help Breast Cancer Research
Tan A. Ince, MD, PhD, of Pathology, demonstrated that primary human breast epithelial cells cultured in improved conditions are more tumorigenic and metastatic compared to cells cultured under standard conditions. This work was done while Ince was a post-doctoral visiting clinical scientist in the laboratory of Robert A. Weinberg, PhD, a founding member of MIT’s Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research.
Ince and Weinberg, in their attempt to create a better breast cancer tumor model for research, developed cells in this new culture medium that were 10,000 times more potent as tumor initiators and were the only ones able to metastasize. Genes that were previously thought to only initiate tumors also initiated metastasis, according to their findings as published in the Aug. 13 Cancer Cell.