ISS Schweizer is researching immune cells in space

International Space Station: Immune cells are being explored on ISS

04/20/2014

Swiss researchers want to investigate the behavior of human cells under weightlessness on the International Space Station ISS in more detail. The experiments in space should help to understand the functioning of life on earth. In addition, the findings may be useful for some therapies in the future.

Spaceship with human cells on board
On the evening of April 18, with a delay of more than a month, the transport spaceship started „Dragon“ from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida to the International Space Station ISS. On board were at this so-called „CellBox“-Mission immune cells from Switzerland. A team led by Professor Oliver Ullrich from the Anatomical Institute of the University of Zurich wants to investigate more precisely the behavior of human cells under weightlessness on the ISS. As the „Tyrolean newspaper“ reported, said Professor Ullrich: „Given the dramatic changes in cells in weightlessness, it is surprising that humans can survive in space for six months at a time.“ Not only bones and muscles are dwindling, but above all the immune system is disturbed.

Astronauts often suffer from infections
For example, the phagocytes, the so-called marrow phages, no longer function properly, killing and eliminating invading bacteria. Therefore, astronauts would often suffer from infections. The Swiss scientists now want to know how the structure and metabolism of these phagocytes change in a three-day stay in weightlessness. The return of the „Dragon“-Capsule with the frozen samples is expected on May 18, 2014 in the Pacific Ocean. The focus of the investigations is the long-term effect of weightlessness on human phagocytes, especially on their cytoskeleton and molecules, which are important for cell communication.

Immune system responds within seconds to the loss of gravity
The research team has already demonstrated with the help of aerobatic crashes, so-called parabolic flights with 22 seconds of weightlessness, as well as experiments on sounding rockets with five-minute weightlessness, that cells of the human immune system react within seconds to the loss of gravity. Thus, important molecular functions for cell-cell communication and cell migration are immediately disturbed. By means of the three-day experiment, the team around Ullrich now wants to find out whether the many changes that occur after seconds or minutes of weightlessness are adaptation processes to a new environment, or profound and lasting disruptions.

Financed by the German Aerospace Center
The study is being carried out together with Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and funded by the German Aerospace Center. „In order to be able to interpret the previous data, we need the study in space“, so Ullrich. Molecular cell adaptation could be well established in three days. Previous data would suggest that the cytoskeleton mediates the cells' dependence on gravity. Ullrich suspects: „Without gravity, the order is lost and with it the precise control of the processes within the cell.“

Health risks for astronauts
Professor Ullrich believes that the findings could be useful not only in space but also on Earth in the future. So you could find a therapy to cure the immunodeficiencies in astronauts, or identify genes whose carriers are better protected against it. „Thanks to these experiments, we can better assess the risks of future space flights.“ Recently it was reported: Mars mission carries a high health risk. In this context, US experts warned against the health risks for astronauts. According to NASA, the first mission to Mars is around 2030. Such a flight would take around 500 days. But astronauts often complain about health conditions such as nausea, blurred vision or weakness on much shorter flights.

Understand the functioning of life on earth
On the Earth, too, the cytoskeleton plays a role in diseases. Alzheimer's disease, for example, causes massive disruption of the cytoskeleton in brain cells, which then die off. Similarly, certain cancer drugs in cancer cells would cause and thus inhibit their division. „These experiments help us understand the functioning of life on Earth“, so Ullrich. It can also be concluded from the newly gained knowledge, whether the earth is also because of its gravity, the ideal place for multicellular life. And with it, whether a life without gravity for humans in the long run is possible. (Ad)