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Source:
http://www.sciencealert.com/a-new-drug-has-been-found-that-fast-tracks-tissue-regeneration
In news that sounds like it’s come straight out of science fiction, researchers in the US have discovered a drug that rapidly repairs damage to the colon, liver and bone marrow in mice, without any adverse side effects. It even saved the lives of mice that would have otherwise died as a result of a bone transplant.The drug hasn’t been tested on people just yet, but the team are now working on developing it for human use within the next three years, with the hope that it could drastically reduce recovery times and improve survival outcomes after surgery and injury.
"We are very excited," lead researcher Sanford Markowitz, an oncologist from Case Western Reserve University in the US, said in a press release. "We have developed a drug that acts like a vitamin for tissue stem cells, stimulating their ability to repair tissues more quickly."
Based on the initial results in animal models, which have been published in the journal Science, the team will first look at trialling the drugs in patients have ulcerative colitis, or are about to undergo bone marrow transplants or liver surgery – but in the future they hope to see whether it could more broadly speed up the repair of tissues around the body.
"The drug heals damage in multiple tissues, which suggests to us that it may have applications in treating many diseases," said Markowitz.
The drug, which goes by the un-catchy name of ‘SW033291’, works by enabling a natural molecule in the body known as prostaglandin E2, or PGE2. Scientists have long known that PGE2 helps the proliferation of adult stem cells - which play a crucial role in healing by differentiating into new cell types as required within their tissue.
Source:
http://www.sciencealert.com/a-new-drug-has-been-found-that-fast-tracks-tissue-regeneration