Heart Stem Cell Research

It was fortuitous timing.

Heart stem cell research.

A new treatment using stem cells which have the potential to grow into a variety of heart cell types could potentially repair and regenerate damaged heart tissue. Both embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells mature cells that are manipulated back to a stem cell state can be harnessed to create new heart cells. Even if you haven t you ll know of dolly the cloned sheep the original poster girl of this sensational field of scientific research. Johns hopkins patient bill beatty was the second person in the world to receive stem cells derived from his own heart tissue.

Since the cedars sinai team completed the world s first cardiac stem cell infusion in 2009 additional insights have emerged from this and related work including the discovery in animals that iron infused cardiac stem cells can be guided with a magnet to damaged areas of the heart dramatically increasing their retention and healing potential. Chances are you ve heard of stem cells. Much of that work is in its early stages focusing on the safety of the procedures safety always comes first in testing a new treatment. Stem cell treatments are already being tested in people.

How stem cell research could help repair heart attack damage stem cell research could reveal new ways to help us mend broken hearts as sarah kidner discovers. In a study published last february in the lancet researchers treated 17 heart attack patients with an infusion of stem cells taken from their own hearts. Researchers and doctors hope stem cell studies can help to. Increase understanding of how diseases occur.

Some researchers feel that these advances are imminent while others believe there is a great deal of work yet to be done. The goal of this research is to eventually provide cardiac patients with stem cells that can regenerate heart tissue that has been damaged. The difficulty is that the heart cells made with stem cells resemble the heart cells of an infant rather than adult heart cells. Research shows that pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes can form beating human heart muscle cells that both release the necessary signals and replace muscle lost to heart attack.

Beatty was an ideal candidate for a clinical trial and soon received an infusion of stem cells derived from his own heart tissue making him the second patient in the world to undergo the procedure.