First iPS Cell Trial for Heart Disease Raises Excitement, Concern

Without knowing the cells’ mechanism of action, researchers question the best way to administer them to patients.

Katarina Zimmer

| 4 min read

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Early next year, a small clinical trial will begin in Japan, marking the first time reprogrammed stem cells will be deployed to help regenerate injured hearts. A team led by Osaka University cardiac surgeon Yoshiki Sawa will implant sheets—each consisting of 100 million stem-cell derived cardiomyocytes—onto the hearts of three patients with advanced heart failure.

“It’s a big deal they’ve gotten approval to do this,” remarks Jalees Rehman, associate professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The cardiac study is one of the first few clinical applications of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, the first being an iPS cell-based treatment of macular degeneration of the eye, which also took place in Japan.While it is a big deal to pioneer such a technology clinically, the trial also has its risks, unknowns, and critics.

Japan’s health ministry conditionally approved the heart experiment in ...

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Meet the Author

Katarina Zimmer
After a year teaching an algorithm to differentiate between the echolocation calls of different bat species, Katarina decided she was simply too greedy to focus on one field. Following an internship with The Scientist in 2017, she has been happily freelancing for a number of publications, covering everything from climate change to oncology.
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