Bioreactor: Ground-based research results [Partnership with NIH] [Attacking diabetes] Since its invention in 1992, the bioreactor has been used in terrestrial laboratories for significant research and for work leading to clinical studies in a range of diseases. In May 1997, the Society for In Vitro Biology devoted an entire issue of In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Animal (33:5, 325-405) to the results of a special NASA workshop on bioreactor results. Many of the authors are investigators in NASA's bioreactor flight research program. Topics covered by In Vitro or reported through other media include: Cancer research. Bioreactors have cultured single cells of cancers of the skin (melanoma), prostate, ovary, breast, bone (osteosarcoma), and colon into viable cell cultures. Tissue structures can be grown for at least 60 days before they become too large to remain suspended in the bioreactor growth medium. Infectious disease. The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., uses the bioreactor to grow cultures-rather than using live animals-in the study of how the Ebola virus is transmitted. At the NASA/NIH Center for Three Dimensional Tissue Culture (see box above), scientists use the bioreactor in a wide range of infectious disease studies. Kidney failure. In addition to filtering waste from the bloodstream, the kidneys secrete crucial hormones, including erythropoietin and 1-25-diOH-D3. Replacing these hormones now costs $2.5 billion. Further, the technology for supplying them is (as with insulin for diabetics) inadequate to maintain a healthy body. Culturing of kidney cells offers the potential to produce these key hormones so that the health and quality of life of kidney patients can be improved. Immune system repression. One of the marvels of the human immune system is how lymphocytes, like escape artists, squeeze through the tight spaces between cells in search of invading disease. Bioreactor studies using collagen reveal that lymphocytes exposed to simulated low-g for 72 hours do not move. This has been verified with experiments aboard Shuttle missions, and demonstrates that the bioreactor is a good simulation of low-g growth conditions. Drug efficacy. Kidney and heart tissues cultured in the bioreactor show the appropriate drug receptor sites that allow testing of drugs to determine their safety without using animals. This also reduces the need to use human volunteers in final testing. Cells from kidneys lose some of their special features in conventional culture (left) but form spheres replete with specialized cell microvilli ("hair") and synthesize hormones that may be clinically useful. Links to 1347x397-pixel, 269K JPG. Photos: NASA. National Institutes of Health In 1994, NASA and the National Institutes of Health signed an interagency agreement to provide NASA bioreactor technology to NIH and to establish a joint Center for Three Dimensional Tissue Culture at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Since the original agreement, the bioreactor has been incorporated into more than a dozen laboratories within NIH. The bioreactor is an excellent example of how the skills and resources of two distinctly different agencies can complement each other for the public good. Where NASA is chartered to explore and exploit space, NIH is chartered to develop tools to defeat disease. This new center is conducting 16 bioreactor research projects. Foremost among these is the first in vitro tissue system permitting the study of the HIV pathway through the human lymphatic tissue. The other 15 projects address a range of human health issues. NASA bioreactor technology is used within several NIH institutes and other agencies covering virtually all of human health: allergies, dentistry, the human genome, digestive and kidney disease, neurology, and heart, lung, and circulatory health. At the NASA/NIH Center for Three Dimensional Tissue Culture, scientists use tonsil tissue to grow live Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) and thus observe more closely the transmission of the virus. The cultures have demonstrated the same progressive loss of CD4 T-cells as seen in AIDS patients. The NASA/NIH Center also is studying an intestinal parasite found on some imported fruit. Attacking diabetes Understanding that a key hormone is needed to move sugar from the bloodstream into cells allowed doctors to develop a treatment, daily insulin injections for life, for diabetes. While staving off death, this therapy is crude compared to the fine balancing act performed by the beta cells of a healthy pancreas. About half of the blindness, kidney failure, and limb loss in the United States are due to long-term complications of diabetes, for a public cost of $1 out of $7 spent in health care. Bioreactor cell science opens new possibilities for more natural treatments. In 1997, NASA and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation signed a Space Act Agreement for collaborative work including bioreactor research to understand the best route for cultivating and transplanting beta cells into Type I diabetics, and to develop a non-invasive blood sugar monitor which could enhance bioreactor operations. Under a Technology Transfer Act Agreement, VivoRx of Santa Monica, Calif., is developing a method of encapsulating beta cells in treated seaweed membranes for implant in the abdomen. The seaweed allows insulin and glucose to diffuse back and forth so the transplanted cells work as an artificial pancreas. Microencapsulation results in human volunteers are highly promising. The bioreactor is being used to develop methods to expand the small numbers of cells available from donors to supply the large numbers of cells needed by diabetics. [Bioreactor lead story][Tools][Ground-based research][Flight results] Author: Dave Dooling Suggestions: Dan Woodard THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NASA WEB PAGE ~~ See Responsible Parties ~~ Last modified on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1998