"Upgrade" at the cellular level
The cells of multicellular (and some developed unicellular) organisms contain internal "compartments" – organelles that perform various metabolic functions. Mitochondria produce energy, ribosomes synthesize proteins, genetic information is stored, copied, and controlled "decoded" in the nucleus. Swiss researchers led by Wolfgang Meier have learned how to create synthetic analogues of these organelles, and in experiments on human cell culture "in vitro" have shown that such "prostheses" are able to have a markedly positive effect on metabolism.
Meyer and his colleagues synthesized the necessary proteins and placed them in a capsule consisting of a substance that stimulated white blood cells (macrophages) to absorb them. For their experiments, the scientists used a set of enzymes synthesizing fluorescent substances, the appearance of which would be easy to detect. By changing the properties of the capsule membrane, they could change the set of substances entering and exiting the capsule – and thus influence the course of the reaction. "We called it a 'nanoreactor,'" Meyer notes. Indeed, their simple "bioreactor" has only 200 nm in diameter, that is 400 times thinner than a human hair.
According to the authors, their artificial organelles (if, of course, they are filled with a suitable set of enzymes) can work in other human cells – and this opens up opportunities for a new type of anti-cancer therapy. For example, in modern types of chemotherapy, the patient receives a safe precursor substance of "cellular poison", which turns into a killer only in the presence of a certain enzyme. And this enzyme is associated with the surface of antibodies that detect only cancer cells, but ignore all others. Meyer believes that this method is even better to use with his artificial "bioreactors", introducing the necessary enzyme directly into the cells, where it will act much more effectively. According to him, it would be possible to create a "suicide organelle" inside the cells, which would be activated only after its rebirth into cancer.
However, the prospects for using such organelles to treat a deficiency of various enzymes – for example, lactase, the lack of which causes intolerance to dairy products, look more encouraging.
Well, in the more distant future, this method will allow equipping human cells with metabolic functions unusual for them. In principle, such "bioreactors" can allow photosynthesis in our skin cells – and in case of hunger, it will be enough just to bask in the sun.
"Popular Mechanics" by the publication of The New Scientist TechPortal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru