ROC sheds light on cardiovascular research

2015-02-24

A research team from Taipei City-based Academia Sinica recently confirmed that circulating blood cells can contribute to cardiomyocyte, or heart cell, regeneration.

Using real-time molecular imaging and transgenic mice to pulse-trace label adult heart cells, the team discovered that bone marrow-derived circulating cells assist in heart cell repair by fusing with existing cardiomyocytes or give rise to new ones via direct transdifferentiation.

Patrick Hsieh, team leader and associate researcher at AS Institute of Biomedical Science, said Feb. 16 that the findings are important as they call into question studies to the contrary completed by Stanford University and the University of Washington.

“Our research provides evidence that hematopoietic cells play an important role in repairing cardiomyocotes and may serve as an alternative source for replenishing lost cells.”

The team’s paper Circulating Cells Contribute to Cardiomyocyte Regeneration After Injury was published in the Feb. 13 issue of prestigious journal Circulation Research.

According to Hsieh, ischemic reperfusion results in heart failure and is a leading cause of death worldwide. The condition is primarily triggered by coronary artery occlusion leading to myocardial infarction.

“The heart is an organ with very limited reparative ability. A better understanding of how circulating stem cells are regulated to give rise to new heart cells would certainly help develop related therapies,” he said.

“Going forward, the next goal is to translate the research findings into clinical applications like developing new treatments for heart diseases.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=227620&CtNode=413)