Source: University of Houston
Date: March 2, 2010
Summary:
A heart patient’s own skin cells soon could be used to repair damaged cardiac tissue thanks to pioneering stem cell research of the University of Houston’s newest biomedical scientist, Robert Schwartz. His new technique for reprogramming human skin cells puts him at the forefront of a revolution in medicine that could one day lead to treatments for Alzheimer’s, diabetes, muscular dystrophy and many other diseases.
...Schwartz devised a method for turning ordinary human skin cells into heart cells. The cells developed are similar to embryonic stem cells and ultimately can be made into early-stage heart cells derived from a patient’s own skin. These then could be implanted and grown into fully developed beating heart cells, reversing the damage caused by previous heart attacks. These new cells would replace the damaged cardiac tissue that weakens the heart’s ability to pump, develops into scar tissue and causes arrhythmias. Early clinical trials using these reprogrammed cells on actual heart patients could begin within one or two years.
