Sydney:) Researchers have created lab-grown heart tissues that closely mimic adult heart muscle, marking a significant advance in treating genetic heart diseases in children.
Scientists have successfully developed lab-grown miniature heart tissues, known as cardiac organoids, that closely replicate adult human heart muscle, announced yesterday by QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in collaboration with the Melbourne-based Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Created from human pluripotent stem cells, these organoids overcome a key limitation. Traditionally, stem-cell-derived heart cells remain immature. Researchers activated specific biological pathways to simulate exercise effects, maturing the cells to behave like genuine adult heart tissue, according to the release from QIMR Berghofer.
The study, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, demonstrates how these advanced cardiac organoids can be used to test new drugs for heart conditions.
“There’s a huge benefit to studying heart diseases in this way. Using human cardiac organoids allows us to screen many more compounds, speeding up the process of drug development,” said James Hudson from QIMR Berghofer’s Cardiac Bioengineering Lab.
Using these organoids, researchers modeled genetic heart diseases, including hard-to-study Desmoplakin cardiomyopathy. The diseased tissues developed scarring and weakened pumping, matching patients’ symptoms. Crucially, an experimental drug class (BET inhibitors) restored function in the affected tissue, the researchers said.
Gene and protein analysis, along with tissue samples from the Melbourne Children’s Heart Tissue Bank, allowed researchers to more accurately model childhood heart conditions and work towards better treatments for vulnerable patients, according to the study.
UNI XINHUA
