Dormant stem cells from adult myocardium (renewal)
Unlike some other animals, like the zebrafish, the human heart cannot heal itself by replacing damaged heart cells with new heart muscle cells. Despite this, it is now known that the heart does contain stem cells – cells that are able to develop into the different types of tissue that make up the heart. BHF Professor Michael Schneider from Imperial College London was one of the first scientists to discover stem cells within the heart itself. Stem cells in the heart could be used for heart repair but their number and level of activity needs to be boosted for them to work. The Imperial team has developed unique ways to pinpoint the rare stem cells from adult hearts in mice and grow them in the laboratory for many months. The four types of cells they have identified in mice still have features resembling the primitive cells that make the body's heart, and can turn into heart muscle or blood vessel cells, when injected into the body. The BHF has now awarded his team a grant to study these cells in more detail. They want to find out if heart injury activates the stem cells present in the heart, and if so, if they mature into new heart muscle itself, and acquire the same functions as heart muscle cells. They also want to investigate if the stem cell features they have discovered in mice could lead them to finding the equivalent cells in humans. This research will explain more about stem cells within our heart and if new treatments could be developed to activate or boost these cells to repair our own heart if it is damaged, or if the cells themselves could be isolated and used as a cell therapy.
Project details
| Grant amount | £1,075,067 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Chairs & Programme Grants |
| Application type | Programme Grant |
| Start Date | 01 February 2015 |
| Duration | 4 years |
| Reference | RG/15/1/31165 |
| Status | Complete |
