Organ-on-a-chip model offers insights into premature aging and vascular disease
Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is an extremely rare genetic condition that causes premature and accelerated aging. Recently, researchers have been able to generate induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with HGPS to better understand the mechanisms of aging and look for new treatments. HGPS primarily affects vascular cells, which undergo biomechanical strains in blood vessels. However, the impact of these biomechanical strains on aging and vascular diseases has been challenging to study in the lab as most models fail to mimic the biomechanics that cells experience in the body. Using a new progeria-on-a-chip model, investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital, led by João Ribas, PhD candidate, and Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, of the Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, have developed a way to recapitulate blood vessel dynamics to better understand vascular disease and aging.
The new organ-on-a-chip device consists of a top fluidic channel and underlying vacuum channel, which mimics, upon pressure, the mechanical stretching that cells experience within blood vessels. The team found that cells derived from HGPS donors but not from healthy donors showed an exacerbated response to biomechanical strain, with an increase in markers of inflammation, which are strongly associated with vascular disease and aging.
"Vascular diseases and aging are intimately linked yet rarely studied in an integrated approach," the authors write. "Gaining a deeper understanding of the molecular pathways regulating inflammation during vascular aging might pave the way for new strategies to minimizing cardiovascular risk with age."
Original publication
Original publication
João Ribas, Yu Shrike Zhang, Patrícia R. Pitrez, Jeroen Leijten, Mario Miscuglio, Jeroen Rouwkema, Mehmet Remzi Dokmeci, Xavier Nissan, Lino Ferreira, Ali Khademhosseini; "Biomechanical Strain Exacerbates Inflammation on a Progeria‐on‐a‐Chip Model"; Small; 2017
Topics
Organizations
Other news from the department science

Get the life science industry in your inbox
By submitting this form you agree that LUMITOS AG will send you the newsletter(s) selected above by email. Your data will not be passed on to third parties. Your data will be stored and processed in accordance with our data protection regulations. LUMITOS may contact you by email for the purpose of advertising or market and opinion surveys. You can revoke your consent at any time without giving reasons to LUMITOS AG, Ernst-Augustin-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany or by e-mail at revoke@lumitos.com with effect for the future. In addition, each email contains a link to unsubscribe from the corresponding newsletter.