Heart muscle cells produced in lab in Japan transplanted into heart failure patient

Made in the lab! Transferred to heart failure patient

Scientists in Japan have signed a study that will be hopeful in the treatment of heart failure disease. A team from Tokyo Juntendo University and Osaka University has succeeded in transplanting heart muscle cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which are created by reprogramming body cells and can develop into various types of tissue, into a patient in hospital awaiting treatment for heart failure.

“A SATISFACTORY PROGRESS REGISTERED IN THE HEALTH STATUS OF THE PATIENT IN THE 60’S”

It was stated that heart muscle cells obtained from iPS cells in a laboratory in Osaka were brought to Tokyo with a special storage system at body temperature in 3 and a half hours and transferred to the patient. It was also reported that the patient, in his 60s, showed satisfactory progress in health and will be discharged soon.

Noting that the treatment revealed that healthcare institutions that do not have the technology to produce artificial heart muscle cells can successfully transplant cell sheets sent from elsewhere, the team reported that they plan to transplant in more hospitals to confirm the safety and effectiveness of the treatment. Experts pointed out that the method in question may also be a chance for severe patients whose only hope of survival is a heart transplant.

PROGRAMMABLE CELLS WERE NOBELS

Also known as induced pluripotent stem cells, iPS cells, whose inventor won the 2012 Nobel Prize in medicine to Kyoto University Professor Shinya Yamanaka, can be obtained from other cells of the body and programmed to turn into any human cell.