Cure for a damaged heart? Scientists say lab-grown ‘patch’ made of stem cells may hold key – Firstpost

The cure for a broken heart may still elude us.

However, scientists say they may have found one for damaged hearts.

Researchers writing in the journal Nature say they have developed a ‘patch’ that can repair failing hearts.

The development could give hope to millions of people across the world.

But what do we know? What do experts say?

Let’s take a closer look

What do we know?

As per Nature, the study showed that ‘patches’ of muscle grown from stem cells could help mend a failing heart.

Results of the clinical trial, which took place in 2021, were published on Wednesday.

A 46-year-old woman who had a heart attack in 2016 and later suffered heart failure was the subject.

Ten patches of 400 million cells were implanted on the surface of her heart.

Her condition then stabilised for three months – allowing her to get a heart transplant.

Scientists, who then looked at her old heart, found that the muscle patches had stayed in place – and even formed blood vessels.

Details of the trial were published alongside findings from other studies that tested muscle patches with 40 million and 200 million cells each in rhesus monkeys.

But how does it work?

According to BBC, the patches are created from stem cells taken from another person.

The patches, which are then grown in the lab, are then spliced on to beating hearts.

Ingo Kutschka, University Medical Center Goettingen, an author of the study, likened the procedure to “implanting young muscle.”

Kutschka said a small cut is made in the chest.

After that, the 9 centimetre by 3.8 centimetre patch is sewed on to the surface of the heart.

“It’s tricky because the tissues are floppy, and you have to take care to make it stay in shape,” Kutschka  added.

Professor Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann, lead author of the study, said the patch was able to “adapt, grow, mature and start to support the failing heart.”

It displayed that new muscle can be added to failing hearts “without safety concerns, such as tumours and arrhythmia, Zimmermann added.

What do experts say?

Experts have marvelled at the research – and the possibilities.

“It’s quite a breakthrough,” Jianyi Zhang, who specialises in bioengineering and cardiac repair at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Nature.

As per Nature, there are currently around 60 million people worldwide living with heart failure.

Professor Zimmermann told BBC,“99 per cent of patients with heart failure won’t receive a new heart.”

Kutschka told The Guardian, “We now have, for the first time, a laboratory grown biological transplant available, which has the potential to stabilise and strengthen the heart muscle.”

Others, however, warned that further, bigger trials were required.

Prof James Leiper, director of research at the British Heart Foundation charity, called the results “promising” but said larger trials were needed “to determine the effectiveness of the heart patch in humans”.

“If these are positive, it could help to usher in a new era of heart failure treatment,” Leiper added.

With inputs from agencies