Franken-Heart of the future
New research leads to the possibilities of creating new human organs from thin air
By Brookes Merritt, Sun Media
January 16, 2008
Dr. John Mullen, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at the Mazankowski Heart Institute, says recent American heart research has major ramifications for the future of organ transplants. (Jordan Verlage, Special to Sun Media) |
Local heart experts say new American research has brought us closer to a time when Star Trek-style replicators will be able to create human organs from thin air.
Experts at the University of Minnesota have regrown a rat heart and brought it back to life, and Dr. Jason Dyck and Dr. John Mullen of the Mazankowski Heart Institute are calling it some of the most exciting news to hit the scientific world in years.
Using a process called de-cellularization, the U.S. researchers first scrubbed out the inside of the heart, leaving just a husk.
They re-cellularized the "scaffold" heart with stem cells from healthy newborn rats and within days grew an entirely new organ.
Heart Breakthrough
The replicated heart functioned with about 2% efficiency.
"(Non-embryonic) stem cell therapy and tissue regeneration is a major research focus (at the Mazankowski). We want to be players in this game, leaders even," said Dyck, 39, scientific director of cardiovascular research at the institute.
He said Edmonton researchers are working with similar scaffolding to hold cells in place.
"But it's not on the same scale as this. We're working with small grafts, not entire organs."
Mullen, a heart surgeon, said the breakthrough has major implications on the future of organ transplantation.
The 49-year-old director of Alberta's heart transplant program spoke to Sun Media yesterday between two six-hour heart surgeries.
"I just put a pig's valve into a patient's heart to replace a mitrovalve; it should last about 20 years. This new research means that one day we could grow a new human valve from the patient's own cells. It would last even longer and there would be essentially no risk of rejection."
He said re-cellularization research is 15 to 20 years away from clinical applications and is especially promising for transplants.
"The number of people who need heart transplants far exceeds the number of hearts available. The ultimate goal of this type of research would be to grow entirely new organs for people."
Until then, such research is more likely to foster smaller applications, such as making new tissue patches.
New Prospects
"You could see surgeons replacing scar tissue on an organ like the heart with actual cells that beat and grow into heart muscle tissue.
"The prospects are thrilling. We'll be keeping a close eye on the research."
Copyright © 2007, Canoe Inc.
This article posted March 23, 2008