Cell therapies articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neurointestinal diseases cause significant morbidity and effective treatments are lacking. Here, authors perform autologous cell transplantation of enteric neural stem cells in a mouse model of colonic aganglionosis and report restoration of colonic contractile activity.

    • Weikang Pan
    • , Ahmed A. Rahman
    •  & Ryo Hotta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The challenge of designing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells for cancer therapy is not limited to finding targetable cellular proteins, but also in optimising the effector properties. Here authors show that single-chain variable fragment targeting moieties could unpredictably prompt spontaneous CAR-T cell activation via CAR clustering, which argues for empirical screening for tonic signalling.

    • Tina Sarén
    • , Giulia Saronio
    •  & Magnus Essand

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The induction of long-term systemic immunosurveillance can protect against post-surgery tumor recurrence. Here the authors describe the design of optogenetic-controlled cytokine secreting (IFN-β, TNF-α, and IL-12) engineered mesenchymal stem cells loaded into a hydrogel scaffold, eliciting long-term immune memory and preventing post-operative recurrence in preclinical cancer models.

    • Yuanhuan Yu
    • , Xin Wu
    •  & Haifeng Ye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heterotopic ossification (HO) is the formation of pathological mature bone within extraskeletal soft tissues, and there are currently no reliable methods for removing these calcified plaques. Here, the authors demonstrate that chemically engineered osteoclasts coated with tetracycline can improve their targeting capacity to ectopic calcifications, which extends their bone resorption functions for the treatment of HO.

    • Wenjing Jin
    • , Xianfeng Lin
    •  & Ruikang Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Strategies to improve the function of damaged hearts with progenitor cells have stalled. Here, the authors show that gene transfer of a calcium-dependent potassium channel enhances the functional properties and ability of explant-derived cells to improve heart function after a heart attack.

    • Patrick Vigneault
    • , Sandrine Parent
    •  & Stanley Nattel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    CD229 is expressed on the surface of multiple myeloma cells, as well as B and T lymphocytes. Here, the authors engineer CD229-specific CAR T cells and, using patient samples and mouse models, show that treatment with these cells reduces tumour burden and results in limited targeting of T cells.

    • Sabarinath V. Radhakrishnan
    • , Tim Luetkens
    •  & Djordje Atanackovic

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Supraphysiological T cell activation by chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) contributes to T cell exhaustion and adverse events in CAR T cell therapies. Here the authors engineer a synthetic antigen receptor that integrates into the endogenous TCR complex, preserving natural regulatory circuits and achieving improved performance in mouse tumor models.

    • Patrick A. Baeuerle
    • , Jian Ding
    •  & Robert Hofmeister

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The promise of stem cell therapy for treating central nervous system disease is limited by low stem cell transplantation survival rates and poorly controlled cell fate. Here, the authors develop a biodegradable nanoscaffold for spinal cord injury that enhances transplantation and differentiation of neural stem cells and delivers drugs.

    • Letao Yang
    • , Sy-Tsong Dean Chueng
    •  & Ki-Bum Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Personalised medicine requires cell cultures from defined genetic backgrounds, but providing sufficient numbers of cells is a challenge. Here the authors develop gene cocktails to expand primary cells from a variety of different tissues and species, and show that expanded endothelial and hepatic cells retain properties of the differentiated phenotype.

    • Christoph Lipps
    • , Franziska Klein
    •  & Tobias May

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The therapeutic use of single-chain antibodies (VHHs) is limited by their short half-life in the circulation. Here the authors engineer mouse and human red blood cells to express VHHs against botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT/A) on their surface and show that an infusion of these cells into mice confers long lasting protection against a high dose of BoNT/A.

    • Nai-Jia Huang
    • , Novalia Pishesha
    •  & Harvey F. Lodish

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Evidence of how functional Bregs develop in vivo has been lacking. Here the authors show that proB cells exposed in vivoto CpG differentiate into distinct Breg subsets that inhibit autoimmunity by arresting T cells in the lymph nodes via CCL19 and by producing IL-10 at the site of immunopathology.

    • Sarantis Korniotis
    • , Christophe Gras
    •  & Flora Zavala

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unrecognized progenitor cell perturbations underlying a disease state may limit the efficacy of cell therapies. Here, the authors use high-throughput, single-cell transcriptional analysis to identify disease-specific cellular alterations and prospectively isolate restorative cell subpopulations.

    • Robert C. Rennert
    • , Michael Januszyk
    •  & Geoffrey C. Gurtner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is feared that reprogramming may introduce DNA mutations. Here Bhutani et al. take three different reprogramming methods and using comparative whole genome analyses do identify nucleotide variations that are different in reprogrammed cells from the original fibroblasts, but none convey oncogenic potential.

    • Kunal Bhutani
    • , Kristopher L. Nazor
    •  & Jeanne F. Loring

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for heart repair is hampered by their immature structural and contractile properties that may cause arrhythmia. Here, Eng et al.show that electrical conditioning of human cardiomyocytes in 3D culture can enhance connectivity and provide resistance to arrhythmia.

    • George Eng
    • , Benjamin W. Lee
    •  & Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sepsis patients often develop muscle atrophy that can last for years. Here the authors show in a mouse model that sepsis causes long-term impairment of the satellite cells, affecting mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, and that injection of mesenchymal stem cells restores satellite cell metabolism and muscle regeneration.

    • P. Rocheteau
    • , L. Chatre
    •  & F. Chrétien

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The issue whether the cell surface protein c-kit identifies resident cardiac stem cells (CSC) is controversial. By using novel reporter mouse models, Sultana et al. show that c-kit+cells represent a subpopulation of endothelial cells in the developing and adult heart and do not exhibit CSC traits in health or disease.

    • Nishat Sultana
    • , Lu Zhang
    •  & Chen-Leng Cai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cell therapy requires the targeting of cells to specific sites in the body. Here Muthana et al.use a standard MRI scanner to direct oncolytic macrophages, labelled with magnetic nanoparticles, to primary and metastatic tumour sites in mice, and demonstrate that this leads to reduced tumour growth.

    • Munitta Muthana
    • , Aneurin J. Kennerley
    •  & Claire Lewis

  • Article |

    The availability of tracers to track the health of cells over long periods of time will be of value to optimize cell-based therapy. Here, Lee et al.design a nanoparticle that fluoresces red in living cells, but fluoresces green when cells begin to die from apoptosis or necrosis.

    • Seung Koo Lee
    • , Luke J. Mortensen
    •  & Ching-Hsuan Tung

  • Article |

    The transcription factor FOXO1 has been shown to control the differentiation of enteroendocrine cells in mice. Here the authors extend these findings to humans by showing that FOXO1-expressing cells also exist in the human gut, and that inhibition of FOXO1 generates insulin-secreting cells in human gut organoid cultures.

    • Ryotaro Bouchi
    • , Kylie S. Foo
    •  & Domenico Accili

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Astroglia are heterogeneous in phenotype and not all astrocytes are equivalent in their ability to repair injured brain. Here, the authors show that two defined subtypes of astroglia generated from hESC-derived Olig2-positive versus Olig2-negative neural progenitors, exhibit distinct properties and neuroprotective effects.

    • Peng Jiang
    • , Chen Chen
    •  & Wenbin Deng

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