A team of researchers from the Universities of Granada, Jaén, Málaga (Spain) and Miami (USA) has succeeded in showing that the very cells of the blood of patients who have suffered a myocardial infarction are capable of restoring damaged heart tissue . The work has been published in the journal Cytotherapy .
Specifically, these are the so-called endothelial progenitor cells (EPC), which are those destined to become blood vessels. Scientists have managed to differentiate themselves into cardiac muscle cells ( cardiomyocytes ) because these cells in their initial phase have a lot of plasticity and can be redirected to become heart tissue.
“Until now, the beneficial role of these EPCs was known in pathologies where the diameter of the blood vessels is reduced, such as ischemic heart disease and peripheral arterial disease. However, little was known about its potential to restore damaged heart tissue , ”says Juan Antonio Marchal, co-author of the study.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed the ability of several CPE samples isolated from blood in patients with acute myocardial infarction to convert to cardiac cells in vitro and compared them with others that had been obtained from umbilical cord blood. , a well-known source of stem cells that have the ability to regenerate heart tissue.
“ It is the first time that this comparison has been developed . Our data indicate that endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) obtained from both origins, blood from patients and the umbilical cord, have similar plasticity and functions and suggest a potential therapeutic efficacy in cardiac cell therapy ”, explains Marchal.
This therapy will now move to live animal trials. If the process continues successfully, it would help patients with the process of regeneration of heart tissue after a heart attack and also because it would be the patient’s own cells, any type of rejection would be avoided .
