With nearly 40 international specialists working in the field of myoblast transplantation and the molecular and cellular aspects of cell migration, the International workshop on cell migration proved to be informative and highly enjoyable. This workshop was organised by Professor Jacques Tremblay from Laval University, Canada and Doctor Gillian Butler-Browne from the Myology Institute, France.
In this interview, Doctor Butler-Browne gives her point of view concerning one of the major technical problems with Myoblast Transfer Therapy (MTT), the limited migration of the implanted cells into dystrophic muscles and recounts some of the highlights of the workshop.
What was the concept behind this workshop?
The idea was to gather research scientists working in the field of myoblast transplantation and other domains of cell migration, such as in immunology and cancerolgy, who have a good experience of the different factors involved in this process. This will allow a cross fertilization of information with the aim of applying these concepts to cell migration in myoblast transfer therapy.
Do you think that this amalgamation of ideas will lead to a better understanding and help resolve the problem of the limited myoblast migration within muscle?
By focussing on the fields where cell migration is not a limiting factor, we hope that the various discussions will lead to new and different areas of analysis to solve ways of improving myoblast migration in the muscle environment. The involvement of international experts working on the molecular and cellular aspects of cell migration in the immune and haematopoietic systems, mechanisms of migration of tumor cells and the role of the adhesion molecules in the migration of myogenic cells, to name just a few of the topics discussed during these two days, should certainly help to develop different approaches aimed at increasing the mobility of transplanted cells. So with such an abundance of additional information centred on cell migration, it is hoped that we will gain insight into the problems limiting myoblast migration.
Can you briefly describe some of the highlights of the workshop?
In addition to talks by well established researchers in the field of myoblast transplantation, such as Drs. Terence Partridge and Jennifer Morgan, there were a few that I particularly enjoyed which made for good discussions.
Dr. Grace Pavlath’s work was probably the most original because she used time-lapse photography to follow the migration of single mouse muscle cells and showed that two opposing factors are involved in the mobility of myoblasts, one that accelerates migration and another that acts as a brake.
Dr. Harold Jockusch spoke about the use of a collagen ‘sponge’ with oriented pores to pre-culture myogenic cells before grafting into the host muscle. He observed migration and co-fusion over long distances along perimysial tissue. This is an attractive alternative to the established cell injection technique owing to its flexibility in relation to the cells used and a parallel rather than random orientation of the donor myotubes.
Further highlights included a presentation by Dr. Wilson Savino, an immunologist working on the migration of developing T cells with the aim of better understanding its role in pathological conditions. The fine dissection of the mechanisms governing T-cell migration will provide new clues for designing therapeutic strategies targeting developing T cells and this information may be extrapolated to other distinct cell types such as myogenic precursors.
There were many other exciting presentations that showed how bringing together researchers with experience of different model systems can be beneficial in establishing factors to consider and experimental techniques to use in analysis of the limited migration of myoblasts.
