Myoblast
Transfer Therapy (MTT) is the technology developed by Dr. Peter Law,
PhD, Chairman & CEO of CTI. This Memphis, Tennessee based research/treatment
center is at the forefront of groundbreaking experimental medical treatments
that have preliminarily proven safe in overcoming the devastating effects
of Muscular Dystrophy, and now heart disease.
But
- first things first. Just what is a myoblast?
By definition, a myoblast is an immature muscle cell, a muscle precursor
which is essential for normal muscle repair. A mature muscle cell is actually
a very, thin fiber; a single muscle cell can be more than an inch long, and
instead of containing one nucleus like most other cells, it can contain as many
as 500. When a muscle is injured, a reservoir of
satellite
cells, small immature cells that usually nestle inside each fiber's outer sheath,
are the key to how muscles repair and regenerate themselves.
To
begin this repair process, the satellite cells leave the muscle fiber,
divide repeatedly, and flatten into spindle-shaped forms - myoblasts. These
myoblasts then repair the injured cell by fusing with it, adding their healthy
nuclei to other nuclei previously present inside the muscle cell. The myoblasts
also form entirely new muscle cells by fusing with each other. Dr. Law's reasoned
that these healthy myoblasts could be used to rescue damaged muscle by fusing
with the defective cells. In this way, their healthy nuclei can provide the
normal genes which are lacking in the genetically defective muscle cells.
These combination fibers, which Dr. Law calls "mosaics" exhibit normal function.
One
problem that Dr. Law has overcome was to develop a way to remove the unwanted
cells that might likely trigger the immune system to recognize the transplanted
cells as foreign, thus destroying them before they got to work. "We had to design
and perfect a culture medium to mass-produce myoblasts and weed out other cells"
Dr. Law explains. "And it was equally important not to switch on oncogenes in
the myoblasts and grow tumor cells, which is always a risk when mass-culturing
cells in the lab."
At
this time, the MTT procedure has been successfully used in treating Muscular
Dystrophy, and is currently being studied as a treatment for heart failure.
Dr. Law holds the Patent for the growth procedure for myoblasts, as well as
for the treatment itself.
