Researchers at the Melbourne-based Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) have created human heart valve tissues using stem cells. The research, which was led by MCRI, was published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
The three-dimensional lab-grown tissues mimic key molecular features of human heart valves. According to Enzo Porrello, director of stem cell medicine at MCRI, engineered stem cells allowed researchers to recreate the complex structure of the valves.
Heart valve disease occurs when one or more of the heart's four valves fail to open or close properly. It can result from aging, infections, or developmental problems and affects approximately 28 million people worldwide.
Estimated number of people affected by heart valve disease worldwide
Applications for childhood disease and modeling
Currently, there are no treatments capable of repairing damaged heart valves, leaving many patients reliant on surgery for replacement. For children, existing replacement valves do not grow with the body, which may necessitate multiple open-heart surgeries as they develop.
The lab-grown tissues could help advance treatments for childhood heart disease and provide a new platform to study how valves form, grow, and become damaged. Researchers demonstrated that the tissues could be used to model inflammatory valve disease, which can lead to rheumatic heart disease.
Australia has some of the world's highest recorded rates of rheumatic heart disease, a largely preventable condition that disproportionately affects Indigenous Australians. Dr. Holly Voges, the lead author of the study, stated that the findings indicate a possible use in treating damaged heart valve tissue in both children and adults, and stressed that new treatments can now be rapidly tested and developed.
We can now test and advance new treatments at scale in the lab.
This technology could be used to more accurately model valve disease.
