How to stimulate your cells using growth factors? | Regenerative Medicine

Growth factors

These are proteins with a weak molecular weight, capable of controlling cellular growth by stimulating or hindering cell mul- tiplication in tissues or organs. They should not be confused with growth hormones. There are specific growth factors for each type of cell. The majority of them were discovered by chance during research into cancer. Fibroblast growth factors (FGF), for example, have an effect on the growth of blood vessels and neurones. They help with vision (retina), gastric regulation and secretions, and the production of hormones such as prolactin or TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone). Others take part in the development of an embryo.

We can also cite growth factors such as GM-CSF (Granulocyte Macrophage Colony Stimulating Fac- tor) or GCSF (Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor) which stimulate the multiplication of white blood cells, erythropoietin (which is involved in the reproduction of red blood cells), and even thrombopoietin (which enables the platelets to multiply). There are numerous other growth factors that influence cell growth, such as epidermal growth factors (EGF) or fibroblast growth factors (FGF). Some encourage blood vessel formation, such as vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) or plate- let-derived growth factors (PDGF).

Growth factors can either act on the cell membrane or within its nucleus. After fixing itself onto a receptor located in the part of the cell that is specific to each growth factor, the latter is activated and this triggers the manufacture of another chemical molecule called the “second messenger”. These mechanisms provoke a chemical reaction which ends with the manufacture of a “regulating” protein, i.e. one that is able to accelerate or slow down all of these phenomena. Within the nucleus of the cell, these proteins attach themselves to the genes (structures located on the chromosomes which trigger the manufacture of elements that make up the cell), which are involved in both cell division and differentiation, thus modifying its rate of activity. In this way, growth factors have the ability to stimulate or limit, de- pending on the case, the synthesis of new tissues but also their growth and their repair when the body suffers from an injury. Given that each cell has its own properties, characteristics and particular character, growth factors have the ability to deter- mine more or less abundant cell divisions, the volume of the tissue, and differentiation. In this way, a blood cell will not play the same role as a bone cell or hormonal cell. Growth factors are involved in the manufacture of new cells, and therefore new tissue. They play a particularly important role following an injury. The specific nature of each cell, and the- refore each tissue, directly depends on the action of the growth factors: blood tissue, glandular tissue which causes hormone secretion, bone tissue which makes up the skeleton, etc.

Doctor Christophe de Jaeger, professor of medical physiology and holder of the Chair on Longevity (MTU). One of the very first pioneers in Europe to recommend actively fighting aging in humans. Author of Techniques for fighting aging and We are not made to age from Grasset. Founder and president of the French Society of the Medicine and Physiology for Longevity (SFMPL) and of a new movement of thought called “longevism”.