Stem cells used to regenerate heart muscle
1 May 2014
Researchers at the University of Washington have restored damaged heart muscle in monkeys for the first time using stem cell therapy.
Using heart cells created from human embryonic stem cells, damaged heart muscle in primates has been successfully restored, according to researchers at the University of Washington (UW).
The results, which are published in the online journal Nature, suggest the approach should be transferrable to human patients.
“The results show we can now produce the number of cells needed for human therapy
UW assistant Michael Laflamme
The scientists on this project are seeking ways to repair hearts weakened by myocardial infarctions - a type of heart attack blocks a major artery and deprives heart muscle of oxygen, a statement on the university’s website says.
Lead researcher Charles Murry said: “Before this study, it was not known if it is possible to produce sufficient numbers of these cells and successfully use them to remuscularise damaged hearts in a large animal whose heart size and physiology is similar to that of the human heart.”
On witnessing the results in primate subjects, Murry believes the approach could be ready for clinical trials in humans within four years.
Two weeks after experimentally inducing myocardial infractions in the pigtail macaques, Murry and his team injected 1 billion heart muscle cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the infarcted muscle.
According to the researchers, the stem-cell derived heart muscle cells infiltrated into the damaged heart tissue, then matured, assembled into muscle fibres and began to beat in synchrony with the macaque heart cells.
After three months, the cells appeared to have fully integrated into the macaque heart muscle.
“The results show we can now produce the number of cells needed for human therapy and get formation of new heart muscle on a scale that is relevant to improving the function of the human heart,” said UW research assistant Michael Laflamme.
