Researchers around the world continue to discover new ways to harness the powerful regenerative capabilities of human stem cells. One of the latest breakthroughs may soon allow researchers to use stem cells to heal heart damage.
A team of Australian researchers published details of their study in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The researchers measured gene activity in stem cells as they progressed through the stages of heart development. The information they have discovered may help them eventually create new stem cell treatments to repair damage to the heart.
Many of the tissues in the human body can repair themselves using stem cells, including the skin, liver, and limb muscles. Unfortunately, the stem cells in the heart cannot naturally repair heart damage. This is the reason why heart disease is such a deadly illness.
As co-lead research Dr. Nathan Palpant explains that:
“The big challenge, as we see it, is to uncover new approaches and new insights into ways to help the heart repair itself. We think the answers to heart repair almost certainly lie in understanding heart development. If we can get to grips with the complex choreography of how the heart builds itself in the first place, we’re well placed to find new approaches to helping it rebuild after damage.”
The research team mimicked human heart development from its earliest stages using skin-derived human pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). They tracked the behaviour of the cells throughout this process, using single-cell RNA sequencing to measure about 17,000 genes for each of the 40,000 heart cells.
They discovered that there were a series of gene activity patterns unique to developing cardiac cells. Analysing these patterns will help them learn how the heart grows and develops new cardiac cells.
One of the most interesting discoveries during this process was the identification of a gene called HOPX, which is essential for controlling how the heart grows bigger. This gene is crucial to the development of the human heart. Researchers can now use this knowledge to potentially develop treatments for congenital heart diseases and cardiovascular disease.
Source: Stem cells can be turned into heart cells to heal damage
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