Stem Cell Treatment Could Help Mend Damaged Hearts, Study Finds | HuffPost Life

Can A Damaged Heart Mend Itself?

Kyrsty Hazell— The Huffington Post UK

Imagine if a damaged heart could miraculously repair itself?

Chinese scientists believe that this revolutionary act could soon be a reality after they discovered a way of transforming ordinary tissue into beating heart muscle cells.

Researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai unearthed a treatment that works by coaxing stem cells into developing into new cardiac cells.

The study tested these molecules on zebra fish and mice, and found that the stem cell treatment enlarged the heart by stimulating the production of new cardiac muscle cells.

Scientists from the study, published in the Journal of Chemistry & Biology, are hoping this exciting discovery will pave the way for more effective treatment for heart disease in the near future.

“Despite advances in medicine, management of myocardial infarction heart attack and heart failure remains a major challenge,” says Dr Tao Zhong from the study.

“Developing therapies that can stimulate heart muscle regeneration in areas of infarction would have enormous medical impact.”

Cardiovascular disease kills over 180,000 people a year in the UK alone and contributes to one in three deaths in Britain. In the UK, 28% of premature deaths in men are caused by heart failure., according to the British Heart Foundation.

If this discovery makes you feel positive for the future, take a look at other incredible medical breakthroughs of 2011.

Scientific Medical Breakthroughs

Skin Cancer Drug Doubles Survival Rate(01 of15)

A twice-daily skin cancer drug almost doubles the survival times of advanced cancer patients, American scientists have discovered.Researchers from the Jonsson Cancer Center at the University of California, found that advanced melanoma cancer sufferers lived on average of 16 months after receiving the vemurafenib drug. Read the full story here.Read the full story here (credit:Alamy)

Breakthrough Test Could Predict Heart Attacks And Strokes (02 of15)

Scientists have discovered five new genes that cause heart attacks and strokes and hope these findings will enable them to pinpoint when the attacks will strike.The researchers, from Queen Mary University of London, identified five generic variants that trigger heart attacks and strokes after investigating blood pressure measurements of 25,000 participants. The aim of the study was to look into the role that genes play in hypertension and high blood pressure. Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Skin Cancer Pill Brings Fresh Hope To Alzheimer's Sufferers(03 of15)

American scientists have discovered a potential new drug that could help fight against Alzheimer's disease.Neuroscientists from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine discovered that a skin cancer drug called bexarotene appears to reverse cognitive and memory deficits associated with Alzheimer's when tested on lab mice.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Personalised Skin Cancer Drugs Brings Fresh Hope(04 of15)

A "personalised" pill for advanced skin cancer that can extend life has been approved for use in the UK.The drug, vemurafenib, only works for patients with a specific variant of the BRAF gene.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Genetic Breakthrough Raises Hope For Breast Cancer Sufferers(05 of15)

The genetic code of the most common form of hereditary breast cancer has been mapped for the first time, offering hope for diagnosis and treatment of the disease in the future.Researchers say they have "fully sequenced" the DNA of two breast cancers caused by a faulty BRCA1 gene, which is responsible for aggressive and highly drug-resistant tumours.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Peanut Allergies - Have Scientists Finally Found A Cure? (06 of15)

Scientists from the Northwestern University in Chicago have come one step closer to developing a potential cure for peanut allergies, by creating an immune system tolerant to peanuts. The researchers found that they can switch off potentially deadly peanut allergy attacks by tricking the immune system into tolerating nut proteins, and not seeing them as a threat to the body. Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Lung Cancer Detection Test Trial (07 of15)

A breakthrough lung cancer detection test is set to be trialled on smokers for the first time in Scotland.If successful, cancers could be identified five years earlier than by current detection methods.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Cure For Insomnia A Step Closer After Scientists Discover The Enzyme That Wakes Us Up (08 of15)

Sleepless nights could soon be a thing of the past as scientists discover a key chemical trigger that suppresses sleep and wakes people up. Researchers from Boston University found that when the body has too little of the calcium kinase enzyme, it causes the brain to nod off to sleep. Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Boiling Breast Cancer Tumours Kills Them In Minutes, Discover Experts (09 of15)

A new treatment for breast cancer has been discovered after scientists found that breast tumours can be killed in minutes - by boiling them. The latest treatment, known as Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation, uses a targeted electrical current that heats, or 'boils' the tumour to 70 to 90c (160 to 190f). Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

New Scan Detects Breast Cancer In Seconds Using Anti-Landmine Technology (10 of15)

British scientists have developed a revolutionary breast-screening system that uses anti-landmine technology to detect cancer in seconds. The radio-wave scanner is safer, cheaper and less painful than traditional mammogram X-rays, and unlike the current system, can be used on women of all ages.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Stem Cell Transplant Offers New Hope For Autism and Parkinson's (11 of15)

Breakthrough research involving a brain transplant of stem cells could offer hope for the treatment of both autism and Parkinson's disease.The study, from Harvard University, has already proven successful with mice. Scientists transferred healthy stem cells from mouse embryos into the brains of adult mice who were unable to use leptin, a hormone that tells the body when to stop eating.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Gastric Pacemaker To Fight Obesity By Convincing Brain That Stomach Is Full (12 of15)

A stomach implant that can trick the brain into thinking the stomach is full is the latest hi-tech gadget that experts hope will help fight the flab and beat obesity. The Abiliti, or 'Gastric Pacemaker', is a credit card-sized implant, inserted using keyhole surgery, which detects when food has been eaten and sends signals to the brain to create the feeling of fullness.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

'Fertility Switch' Could Save Women From Pain Of Infertility Or Miscarriage (13 of15)

Scientists from the Imperial College London have discovered a 'fertility switch' that could help treat infertility and miscarriage in the future. The study, published in the Nature Medicine journal, discovered an enzyme in the body that determines infertility and the chances of miscarriage, as it acts like a 'switch'. Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

New Once-Daily HIV Pill Available In UK (14 of15)

Eviplera, a new once-daily pill for the treatment of HIV has been made available in 27 countries of the European Union following approval by the European Medicines Agency. The new drug, from Gilead Sciences, combines three antiretroviral treatments in a single tablet so HIV patients only need to take one tablet a day to treat their condition.Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

Potent Alzheimer's Vaccine 'Could Prevent Disease From Developing' (15 of15)

Scientists believe that a potent Alzheimer's vaccine jab could be the secret to preventing the disease developing from its early stages. Researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington found that an antibody for Alzheimer's disease is more likely to trigger inflammation in the brain the later it is given and that it could potentially be prevented, as long as the vaccine is taken during the very early stages of the disease. Read the full story here. (credit:Alamy)

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uk news Fudan University cardiovascular disease Stem Cell research Heart Disease

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