What type of cells make up our body?
At CREATIC, we work exclusively with somatic cells donated by patients or healthy volunteers. These specialized cells help us better understand the human body and advance biomedical research...
Cells of the human body can be divided into those that ensure the structure and function of the body (somatic cells) and cells that serve for reproduction (gametes). In CREATIC laboratories, we work exclusively with somatic cells, which come from patients or healthy donors. We do not work with cells derived from human embryos.
Somatic cells are the easiest to imagine, as in the series “Once Upon a Time… Life”. You probably remember the red blood cells heroes that carry oxygen around the body.
Somatic cells very often perform a specific function, they are specialized for that and do not have many other actions. For example, skin cells (keratinocytes) make up our skin and protect our internal environment from external influences. Osteocytes make up the our bones, and fat cells (adipocytes) serve as an energy reservoir. The cells of the immune system that circulate through our body also belong to this group.
Changelings
But the body also houses cells that are not so specialized. Such cells can transform into different cell types according to the needs of the body. So-called pluripotent cells can turn into a limited range of other cells, while stem cells can turn into any cell that is needed. Pluripotent and stem cells are constantly rebuilding our tissues and healing wounds.
Every time you cut your finger in the kitchen, skin stem cells start to form new tissue that gradually heals the wound. If you cut yourself really badly and lose a large amount of blood, the hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow begin to replenish the missing numbers of red blood cells and platelets.
Helping cells become a treatment!
Some cells in the human body can be used for healing. This principle is not new – the first transfusion (i.e. giving someone else's blood, including blood cells) and was carried out in the early 19th century. The first organs were transplanted in the 1960s.
Today's science and biotechnology make it possible to enhance the healing properties of various cells of the human body. This is what we study and perform in CREATIC laboratories.
The medicinal products developed and manufactured at CREATIC belong to the so-called advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP). We focus on cell or gene therapy products suitable for the treatment of rare diseases.
In CREATIC laboratories,
we work with immune cells from cancer patients and teach these cells to better detect and destroy tumours.
we work with so-called mesenchymal stromal cells. These can transform into three types of cells - bone, cartilage and adipose. However, we are more interested in their influence on immune cells and inflammation. Mesenchymal stromal cells lower the body's inappropriate immune response and suppress inflammation. This can help, for example, with the healing of chronic wounds.
cell therapy uses the patient's own cells or those of a healthy donor, which have been promoted in the laboratory to increase their therapeutic abilities. It is currently used, for example, for some complications of Crohn's disease.
cell therapy uses the patient's own cells or those of a healthy donor, which have been promoted in the laboratory to increase their therapeutic abilities. It is currently used, for example, for some complications of Crohn's disease.
gene therapy aims to introduce a normal gene into some specialised (somatic) cells of the patient. This could be a gene that helps immune cells to better recognise a tumour or virus-infected cell, a gene that helps nerve cells to transmit impulses and thus maintain functional muscles, or perhaps a gene that allows nerve cells to replace a missing enzyme needed for the brain to function properly. These introduced genes remain only in the recipient's body and do not have the ability to spread to h
tissue-engineered medicinal products use the patient's own modified cells or those of a healthy donor to replace the damaged or dead cells of the recipient. They are currently used to treat severe corneal injuries or damage to articular cartilage.
