According to a study published in the British journal entitled Scientific Report, a team of Japanese scientists has succeeded in obtaining cardiac tissue membranes from induced pluripotent stem cells. According to the team of scientists, this is the first time that iPS cells have produced cardiac tissue membrane similar to real cardiac tissue and comprising vascular and cardiac muscle cells.
Professor Jun Yamashita, who led the team (Kyoto University) hopes that this will pave the way for the development of new treatments for heart disease. Membranes have already been implanted in mice with weak hearts and improvements have been observed.
To obtain this type of membrane, scientists used a protein known as VEGF – linked to the growth of blood vessels – to replace previously used protein Dkk1.
The team stated that no cell became cancerous over a two-month period.
The Japan News 23/10/2014