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.

Heart stem cell research.

Increase understanding of how diseases occur. It was fortuitous timing. 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. Jim dearing of louisville ky one of the first men in the world to receive heart stem cells might have helped start a medical revolution that could lead to a cure for heart failure.

By watching stem cells mature into cells in bones heart muscle nerves and other organs and tissue researchers and doctors may better understand how diseases and conditions develop. Stem cell treatments are already being tested in people. Chances are you ve heard of stem cells. 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.

Johns hopkins patient bill beatty was the second person in the world to receive stem cells derived from his own heart tissue. Transplantation of pluripotent stem cell derived cardiac cells have demonstrated substantial benefits to cardiac function in animal models of heart disease. Some researchers feel that these advances are imminent while others believe there is a great deal of work yet to be done. Even if you haven t you ll know of dolly the cloned sheep the original poster girl of this sensational field of scientific research.

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. 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. 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. 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.

Researchers and doctors hope stem cell studies can help to.