Cardiovascular Research: Heart Cells Can Regenerate

A July 15 press release from Children's Hospital Boston shared promising research regarding the regeneration of heart cells.

Normally, new heart cells do not grow back following a heart attack. The previously functioning cells are replaced by scar tissue, which inhibits heart function. Research indicates it soon be possible to grow new cells where heart cells have been damaged by heart attack.

According to the press release, Bernhard Kuhn, MD, in the Department of Cardiology at Children's Hospital Boston, lead a team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital , while a team at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine worked on periostin research. According to research information, periostin surrounds cells, and has been harvested from skin around bone. The compound is present in very small amounts in mature heart cells, but a high concentration of periostin is involved in fetal heart cell development, and is also present in high concentrations following bone fractures or other injuries. It stimulates new growth of cells to replace injured or dead cells.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine first used periostin was to stimulate heart cells in a Petri dish. 1% of the cells began replicating. The advancement from dead, injured heart cells with 0% repair and replication to 1% may not seem like much, but it was enough to keep this area of cardiovascular research moving forward. Dr. Kuhn was awarded the Young Investigator's Award by the American College of Cardiology for his findings, according to Boston Hospital.