Many of us look at our excess fat as a problem, something to be despised and to be eliminated. However, like a quarry, it harbours a structural potential that could help augment, redesign or even improve our body.
Fat grafting is a surgical technique which involves moving fat from one body part to another. An example is moving fat from one’s hips to the breasts to augment the breast after a breast cancer operation. This technique sounds astounding and one would wonder why fat is not used more often than breast implants, for example? The reason is that fat is somewhat unreliable in the volume transferred. This can vary from 50-88 per cent and means that a patient may require more than one operation to meet expectations.
The holy grail of 21st century science, however, does not lie in the relocation of adipose real estate. Stem cells are the buzzword in science circles and our fatty curves are full of them.
Stem cells represent the ‘Lego blocks’ of nature, which theoretically can be made to form any tissue or organ. It is this property of fat that has dramatically increased the interest in fat grafting in this decade.
The stem cells in our fatty tissue have been found to have effects on wound healing and may, in the future, be the key to the manufacturing of organs. These prospects make this field of research exciting and promising.
Some of us perceive this level of research as unattainable on this island because of the sheer scale required to make these breakthroughs. However, at the University of Malta, a research team is pushing the limits of our biotech critical capacity. One of the focuses of this team is heat shock proteins. These superlatively named chemicals are essentially the reserve force or the territorial army of the human body. They represent the populous defence to a significant attacking force. The attack could be in the form of heat, an infection or even radiation. The defence is slow but sustained.
What we have been trying to do is pre-warn this significant but lumbersome defence to give it a heads up that something disastrous is about to happen.
The apocalyptic event is being transplanted from one body part, where it sits comfortably and well supplied with nutrients, to another body part where it has to colonise a brave new world like immigrants settling in a new colony. What we are looking into is an early warning, a signal that something of the sort is about to happen and that the cell should mobilise all of its defence and strap itself down for a wild ride. This is where a little outside of the box thinking comes in.
The stem cells in our fatty tissue maybe the key to the manufacturing of organs
Current techniques for early warning comprise of submitting the cells to a sub-lethal stimulus, sort of like a fire drill, in preparation for the impending inferno. This, however, is not ideal, especially when you have to expose a patient to this potentially dangerous effect. What we’re looking for is a drug, a simple tablet or syrup that would prepare the patient and specifically the fat to this situation. The solution to this problem showed up conveniently close to our doorstep.
The Institute of Cellular Pharmacology’s patented product does just that; it upgregulates heat shock proteins. In basic terms, it amplifies this early warning signal and leaves the cells prepared for any impending attack.
What we sought to do is analyse the relationship between this locally-produced natural product and the technique of fat grafting, with the aim of further understanding the process. The implications of this research go further and may be applied to transplantation of other tissues and organs like kidneys and liver.
An African proverb says that if you want to go quickly, go alone but if you want to go far, go together.
This project involved a multidisciplinary team. This included researchers at the University of Malta, led by Pierre Schembri Wismayer and Yanika Gialanzé, the team at the Institute of Cellular Pharmacology at the Mosta Technopark and in France and Ian Said, a senior pathologist in London.
The results of this work are to be published in a scientific journal and further analysis is ongoing, as the immunohistochemistry team at Mater Dei Hospital has novel techniques to test for these heat shock proteins.
This project highlights the abilities of local research groups and the ability to nurture the relationship between clinicians, researchers, academia and industry. Hopefully, this work will open new doors for promising members of the healthcare and biotech industry to further their education, training and careers.
info@jeffreydalli.com
Jeffrey Dalli is a surgical trainee at Mater Dei Hospital.