Our lips play crucial roles in our daily lives. They help us talk, eat, drink, and breathe, and they express our emotions and health. Because of their complex structure, problems with lips can be difficult to treat. Basic research is vital for improving these treatments, but until now, scientists lacked effective models using lip cells, which behave differently from other skin cells. A recent study published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology describes how researchers successfully immortalized donated lip cells. This breakthrough allows for the creation of useful lip models in the lab, which could help thousands of patients.
Dr. Martin Degen from the University of Bern emphasized the importance of lips, stating, “The lip is a very prominent feature of our face. Any defects in this tissue can be highly disfiguring.” He noted that human lip cell models were previously missing, but a collaboration with the University Clinic for Pediatric Surgery and Bern University Hospital helped change that by using lip tissue that would have otherwise been discarded.
Understanding Lip Cell Research
Primary cells donated by individuals are ideal for research because they closely resemble original tissue. However, these cells cannot be reproduced indefinitely and are often hard and expensive to obtain. The next best option is to use immortalized lip cells, which can be grown in the lab. To create these, scientists modify specific genes so that the cells continue to reproduce instead of stopping at the end of their life cycle.
In the study, researchers used skin cells from tissue donated by two patients: one treated for a lip laceration and the other for a cleft lip. They applied a retroviral vector to deactivate a gene that halts the cell cycle and adjusted the telomeres—structures at the ends of chromosomes that influence cell longevity. The team rigorously tested the new cell lines to ensure their genetic stability and to confirm they retained the properties of primary cells. To verify that the immortalized cells did not show cancer-like traits, they looked for chromosomal abnormalities and tested their ability to grow on soft agar, a medium that only allows cancer cells to thrive. The new cell lines showed no abnormalities and did not grow on the agar, demonstrating they behaved like their unmodified counterparts.
Potential Applications for Healing
The researchers also assessed how these cells could serve as models for studying lip healing and infections. They scratched samples of the cells to simulate wound healing. Untreated cells closed the wounds after eight hours, while those treated with growth factors healed more quickly. These findings mirrored results seen in skin cells from other parts of the body.
Additionally, the scientists created 3D models using the lip cells and infected them with Candida albicans, a yeast that can cause severe infections in individuals with weak immune systems or cleft lips. The cells responded as expected, allowing the pathogen to invade the model in a way that mimicked real lip tissue infections.
Dr. Degen stated, “Our laboratory focuses on gaining a better understanding of the genetic and cellular pathways involved in cleft lip and palate. However, we believe that 3D models made from healthy immortalized lip cells can be valuable in various areas of medicine.”
He also noted a challenge: lip keratinocytes can vary between labial skin, mucosal, or mixed types. The specific type needed will depend on the research question, but he assured that they have the tools to identify or purify these cell populations in the lab.
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