British researchers grow heart tissue from stem cells

British medical researchers have grown human heart tissue from stem cells in a breakthrough reported Monday that offers a possible solution to a shortage of donors for heart transplants.

The Guardian newspaper said that if animal trials scheduled for later this year prove successful, replacement tissue could be used in transplants for heart disease patients within three years.

Researchers led by Magdi Yacoub, a professor of cardiac surgery at Imperial College London, have grown tissue from stem cells in bone marrow that works in the same way as the valves in human hearts, it said.

Stem cells are immature cells that grow into various tissues.

Yacoub, who has worked for a decade on how to deal with a shortage of donated hearts for transplant, said the work had brought the goal of growing a whole human heart closer.

"It's an ambitious project but not impossible. If you want me to guess I'd say 10 years," he was quoted as saying.

"But experience has shown that the progress that is happening nowadays makes it possible to achieve milestones in a shorter time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was some day sooner than we think."

There is a shortage of replacement organs, and though some of the functions can be reproduced by artificial systems, not all can. ...

Whole article: www.physorg.com

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