Source Harvard University
Date: July 1, 2009
Summary:
Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have identified the earliest master human heart stem cell from human embryonic stem cells - ISL1+ progenitors - that give rise to a family of cells that form the essential portions of the human heart. The discovery, by a group led by Kenneth Chien, director of both HSCI’s Cardiovascular Disease Program and the MGH Cardiovascular Research Center, is particularly important because the cells were found in regions of the heart known as hot spots for congenital heart disease. These latest findings, published today in the journal Nature, build upon and expand earlier work by Chien’s team and others in mice.
