New method helps identify stem cells to treat heart disease

Using a new recognition protein injected into mice, British researchers have discovered a special type of stem cell that can help repair damage caused by a heart attack.

Illustration photo. (Source: hudsonvalleynewsnetwork.com)

This is the discovery of scientists at Imperial College London (ICL) in the UK.

Over the past decade, stem cells isolated from the heart have shown the ability to stimulate the heart to heal itself, an approach known as regenerative medicine. However, researchers are still unclear about the best cell types and combinations of stem cells.

In research published in Nature Communications, a team of scientists from ICL and the British Heart Foundation discovered that stem cells with cardiac repair properties contain a recognition protein on their surface, called PDGFR alpha.

The cells were able to use this protein to detect a particular cell type that holds the most potential for cardiac regenerative medicine.

Researchers say mice treated with this type of stem cell were able to regenerate and repair much of the damaged heart muscle after 12 weeks, helping to prevent heart failure.

The team hopes to find similar cells in the human heart, using PDGFR alpha and other proteins to identify and purify the best stem cells to repair damage caused by heart attacks.

Professor Michael Schneider of the British Heart Foundation, who led the research team, said that in the future, treatment of heart damage could be done through injections of stem cells, similar to the method his team is researching, or using the healing proteins these cells produce./.

According to Vietnam+