Muscling transplants into mice
Wickelgren, I.
Science 273(5271): 33
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 8658188 Document Number: 459887
In a report in this issue, transplant surgeon Henry Lau and molecular biologist Christian Stoeckert describe how genetically engineered muscle cells can protect tissue transplants from rejection in diabetic mice. The researchers genetically engineered muscle cells to create a protein called the Fas ligand, or FasL, that can induce immune cells to kill themselves. When wrapped around insulin-producing islet cells, the engineered muscle cells prolonged the survival of the transplant in a dose-dependent way.