Master Stem Cell for Human Heart Identified

Yahoo - Health Day News ^ | Wed Jul 1, 11:49 pm ET | Amanda Gardner

[BossLady]

WEDNESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- For the first time, researchers have identified a single "master" stem cell in humans that is capable of differentiating into all three major cell types that make up the human heart.

"This is a very simple but very important and fundamental finding, and that is understanding how the human heart is built, how it is made, what are the progenitor cells which give rise to the human heart," said Dr. Kenneth Chien, head of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute's cardiovascular disease program and senior author of a paper in the July 2 issue of Nature.

"This means we are in a new era where we can envision entirely human-based models of cardiovascular disease," added Chien, who is also director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cardiovascular Research Center.

Because this is a first, there could be enormous implications for further research into the human heart and, eventually, into repair and regeneration of the organ in people who have had heart attacks or have heart failure or congenital heart defects.

((rest of article at link))

[BossLady]

FYI - Stem Cell Zing!

[Danae]

WOW
Massive PING

[BossLady]

Big Stuff Huh!!!

Wonder how much of this research will take place if Obama gets this Universal Stealth Health Plan going....or if it will matter....because once you have had a heart attack...you will be put out to pasture.... (just speculating ;)

[TheGeezer]

Note that adult stem cells are less dangerous than fetal stem cells, theoretically, for human treatment.

[BossLady]

Absolutely! Adult stem cells are where the answers are...IMHO ;)

[neverdem]

bump & adult stem cell/progenitor cell ping

BossLady, thanks for the ping.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Thank you and BTTT

[grey_whiskers]

Groovy Cool.

Thanks!

[neverdem]

But there is a danger in using embryonic stem cells in humans, according to Dr. Darwin J. Prockop, director of the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Scott & White. And that is the potential for the cells to form tumors down the line.

Prockop wrote:

Repair of Tissues by Adult Stem/Progenitor Cells (MSCs): Controversies, Myths, and Changing Paradigms

Human ISL1 heart progenitors generate diverse multipotent cardiovascular cell lineages

Is it ethical to use the knowledge gained from work on a human embryo done by others? I think it can be, but it depends on what you want to do. I couldn't do the work in the last link even if I had the skill.

P.S. When I pinged you before, I hadn't finished the article posted by BossLady.

[BossLady]

It's very interesting to see Dr. Prockrop's comments on different studies....

http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Prockop_Darwin_24160549.aspx