Investigation of telocyte vesicles as a tool for tissue regeneration and evaluation of telocyte progenitor capacity

• Grant number: 21/12210-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: November 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Cytology and Cell Biology
• Principal Investigator: Hernandes Faustino de Carvalho
• Grantee: Bruno Domingos Azevedo Sanches
• Supervisor: Sophie Constance Cox
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Birmingham, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/08945-8 - Prostatic telocytes, smooth muscle cells, myofibroblasts and fibroblasts: origin, interrelationships and transdifferentiation., BP.PD

Abstract

The exchange of extracellular vesicles has emerged as one of the main means for intercellular communication, these structures can carry a large set of information as they may contain, in addition to structural proteins and growth and differentiation factors, several types of RNAs, in particular, miRNA and mRNA, which indicates the potential of extracellular vesicles to directly modulate gene transcription and translation. In view of this, extracellular vesicles may have great relevance for both basic and applied science, and may reveal an even poorly known level of communication between cells in both normal and pathological settings, as well as new targets for the treatment of diseases and tissue regeneration. Thus, the present project intends to use extracellular vesicles of telocytes to investigate the interrelationships of these cells with other stromal cells, especially fibroblasts and osteoblasts. In addition, in a pioneering way, the content of these extracellular vesicles will be analyzed, which will increase the knowledge about the role of telocytes in the stromal intercellular signaling. Finally, the progenitor nature of telocytes will be tested by culturing these cells with different recombinant proteins, SCF and TGF²-1, in order to stimulate the differentiation of telocytes into Interstitial Cells of Cajal and smooth muscle cells. What is relevant to shed light on the relationship between telocytes and these cells, and on the possible role of telocytes in tissue regeneration. (AU)