Study on Stem Cells Derived From Heart Tissue

Study on Stem Cells Derived From Heart Tissue

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University announced yesterday via press release that, “Stem cells derived from human heart tissue develop into multicellular, spherical structures called cardiospheres that express the normal properties of primitive heart tissue, smooth muscle and blood vessel cells.” The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s annual conference in Dallas.

These findings come from two separate studies. The first study involved tissue taken as part of a regular check-up from 20 heart transplant patients. The researchers grew the tissue for two weeks and collected cardiac stem cells, then grew the cells separately in culture until they formed cardiospheres. Two weeks later, the spheres had “organized into structures consisting of at least two distinct, partially overlapping layers of cells. Cells in the center of the cluster had properties most like cardiac stem cells, while cells on the surface had properties similar either to myocytes (heart muscle cells with the ability to contract) or to cells that could develop into smooth muscle or blood vessel lining.”

In the second study, the cells derived from the cardiospheres were injected into mice who had had induced heart attacks. The cells were injected into the left ventricle and between 8 and 20 days later had migrated to the area damaged by the heart attack. The hearts also had an improved performance of 15 to 20 percent.

The researchers don’t yet know why cardiospheres form, but said that the study showed the potential for heart attack patients to be treated with stem cells derived from their own hearts, which would avoid the risk of immune-system rejection. Patients who improved with this treatment might not need heart transplants.

Stem Cell Hub Difficulties

Stem Cell Hub Difficulties

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that the World Stem Cell Hub consortium is “folding” as a result of Dr. Gerald Schatten’s withdrawal from the project. The San Francisco based in-vitro fertility clinic Pacific Fertility Center has announced that it is pulling out of the project. The article quoted Jesse Reynolds, the director of a study on accountability for the non-profit Center for Genetics and Society, as saying, “It seemed to set up an international system of trafficking in human oocytes, and we couldn't see where the oversight was going to come from. Eggs are one of the most critical issues. That's a bottleneck in this vision of the research.”

Schatten withdrew from the project after he became convinced that Hwang had obtained the eggs used in the human cloning research from junior researchers in his lab, which is unethical because of the possibility of coercion. The Chronicle article also reported that “some West Coast biomedical organizations, including Stanford University, UCSF and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine,” had doubts about the World Stem Cell Hub and were not participating. In California, one of the issues that is being faced after the passage of Prop 71, which created the CIRM, is how the donor eggs will be obtained.

Meanwhile, the Korea Times reports that a South Korean law-maker has said there are no ethical problems with Hwang obtaining the eggs from a member (or members) of his research team. She said that the researchers offered their eggs voluntarily, which is not the same as trafficking them. The article points out that her view is not widely shared and outlines the procedures by which eggs are obtained:

Ova contributors are given hormone injections that force the ovaries of the young women to superovulate, producing 12-20 eggs per menstrual cycle instead of one.

Possible side effects of the procedure include general discomfort, emotional stress, clotting of the veins and, in some extreme cases, a stroke. In very extreme cases it could lead to infertility or death.

Hwang has come to the United States to try to speak with Schatten. Schatten is declining comment, and Hwang did not return the Chronicle’s attempt to contact him. The South Korean government will continue to help fund the Stem Cell Hub, according to the Korea Times article.