Cardiovascular disease remains a global killer, with heart attacks taking countless lives each year. These attacks destroy heart muscle cells, leaving the heart weakened. Unfortunately, adult hearts can’t regenerate on their own. Currently, expensive heart transplants are the only option for some patients.
Enter a promising new therapy: regenerative heart therapy using human induced pluripotent stem cells (HiPSCs). These amazing cells can be reprogrammed into different cell types, including heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes). However, traditional methods of injecting these cells carried a risk of arrhythmias, irregular heartbeats.
A recent, groundbreaking Japanese study offers renewed hope. Researchers from Shinshu University and Keio University tested a novel approach: injecting cardiac spheroids derived from HiPSCs into monkeys with heart damage. Cardiac spheroids are 3D clusters of heart cells, potentially mimicking natural heart tissue more effectively.
The team, led by Professor Yuji Shiba, successfully reprogrammed HiPSCs into cardiomyocytes. These cells displayed electrical properties similar to healthy heart cells and responded normally to medications. Importantly, they expressed proteins crucial for integrating with existing heart tissue.
Remarkably, the spheroids survived a four-hour journey at 4°C, suggesting they could be transported to clinics without expensive cryopreservation. This simplifies logistics and potentially reduces treatment costs.
Monkeys received either cardiac spheroids or a placebo injection. Excitingly, arrhythmias were rare, with only two monkeys experiencing temporary fast heartbeats early on. After four weeks, the treated monkeys showed improved blood pumping compared to the control group, as measured by advanced imaging techniques.
Microscopic analysis revealed mature cardiac grafts seamlessly connected to existing tissue, confirming the spheroids’ effectiveness. Assistant Professor Hideki Kobayashi, the study’s lead author, believes these findings pave the way for safer and more effective cell therapy: “HiPSC-derived cardiac spheroids could be the optimal solution for heart regeneration.”
This study, designed for future human application, utilized a production protocol already employed in a clinical trial for heart disease patients. This trial, named LAPiS, offers a beacon of hope for millions struggling with heart problems.
The future of heart regeneration seems bright, thanks to the promise of these remarkable “heart balls” derived from stem cells.
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240426110017.htm