Stem Cells in the Heart?

NewScientist reports that researchers have discovered stem cells in the heart, leading them to believe that the heart can regenerate itself. From the article: "The finding raises the possibility that these cardiac stem cells could one day be manipulated to rebuild tissues damaged by heart disease - still the leading cause of death in the US and UK. Because fully developed heart cells do not divide, experts have believed the organ was unable to regenerate after injury. But, in 2003, researchers at Piero Anversa's laboratory at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York, US, discovered stem cells in the hearts of mice, and subsequently humans. However, they still did not know whether these stem cells actually resided in the heart or had merely migrated there from another tissue, such as bone marrow."

Comments

what exactly is the news here?

[aliscool]

Hey, I'm not a stem cell researcher, and I did read the article...
But there was really not much actual science in this article.
Are we talking about adult, embryonic or.. I assume not, but cord blood stem cells.
I assume we are talking about adult stem cells. These have been discovered and are old news. In fact adult stem cells exist in basically any tissue, which includes the heart... So what exactly was the big news story here about?

Re:what exactly is the news here?

[Adriax]

Well, since you aren't a researcher, lemme translate.

"Stem cells! Stem cells! Look, we found stem cells! Give us more grant money!"

Re:what exactly is the news here?

[Metaleks]

The big news is that the heart was thought that it couldn't repair itself after damage has occurred. Damage like minor heart attacks (which people often don't even know about, yet still have them) create scars on the heart. Over time, the build up of these scars reduces the hearts ability to function properly. Now we learn, that there may be new hope in a heart that could regenerate. Think of all the lives that could be saved. That's the big deal!

Re:what exactly is the news here?

[Doctor Beavis]

I'm doing some stem cell work in a very similar area and may be able to clarify a few points:

1. They are not talking about embryonic cells. These are often referred to as "cardiac stem cells" and we each have them in our hearts. Thus they would be considered adult stem cells. As mentioned, their existence was established by Anversa's lab (and confirmed by others) a few years ago. That was a huge milestone, because we previously believed that all cells in the heart were "terminally differentiated" or incapable of generating new cells. We now know that there *are* cells in the hear that can do this, but not fast enough to make a difference in most cases. For example, if you have a heart attack, part of the muscle dies. For whatever reason (not enough cells, don't replicate fast enough, etc.), the cardiac stem cells are unable to completely repair the damage. Current trials of stem cells in the heart have focused on delivering cells derived from other sources (bone marrow, muscle cells, etc.), but it would be ideal to understand enough about the cardiac stem cells to be able to just "activate" them or at least improve the efficiency of what they do.

2. You are absolutely right we are talking about adult stem cells and even that those exist in the heart is old news. The only news here is that this is a step towards identifying them more efficiently/effectively (which would help as alluded to in my point #1). It's an important step, but an incremental one and I don't think it merited a Slashdot story - I agree with you that it's not that big of a deal.

Re:what exactly is the news here?

[Doctor Beavis]

Sort of. The news that there are cells in the heart that can impact repair was news - in 2003, as the article mentioned. This story was that they have gotten better at identifying where those cells are. An important step, but not as important as the 2003 step was.

Oh no

[smvp6459]

Does this mean I won't be getting that gorilla heart?

Truly, you are a master geek...

[ChePibe]

"their OEM heart"

Wow. I've never actually heard organs referred to as OEM.

Imagine an organ transplant...

"Well, sir, we can pop in this OEM model here, but it's pretty pricey. We do, however, have this third-party Korean heart that we could slap on in there, but it would violate your warranty and, lemme tell ya', those boys in inspections on the other side are unforgiving of that sort of thing. Of course, we could just throw a refurb in there, but those can be hard to come by..."

All in good humor of course, thanks for your informative post

Great news

[I Like Pudding]

I've always believed that eating the heart of a fallen enemy would give me his courage. Getting his stem cells to boot is a totally unexpected bonus.

Re:What about...

[Daniel Dvorkin]

You know what? People should be able to smoke. And drink. And use whatever other drugs they want. And eat crappy food. And not exercise unless they enjoy it. And have sex with as many partners as they please. And do all the other currently life-shortening things they enjoy, and not have it be a death sentence. Keeping people alive after a lifetime of doing the things that make them happy is one of the noblest goals of science.

No, I'm not kidding.