February 2003
From Lancet
Cell transplantation could restore cardiac function after heart attack NB. Please note that if you are outside North America, the embargo for LANCET press material is 0001 hours UK Time Friday, 7 February, 2003. French authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET describe the preliminary success of transplanting muscle stem-cells from the thigh to the heart to restore damaged cardiac tissue after heart attack.The procedure was done in a 72-year-old man and resulted in improved left-ventricular and overall heart function. After the man's death 18 months later, the grafted post-infarction scar showed that the undifferentiated stem cells transplanted from his leg had evolved into well developed skeletal myotubes with a preserved contractile structure. Lead author Albert Hag�ge from Hopital Europeen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, comments: "Irrespective of the mechanism, these results lend support to the usefulness of myoblast therapy in a clinical setting, suggest that grafts have long-term viability, that there is formation of non-degenerated functional myotubes, and a phenotypic switch towards slow-twitch fibres that might allow them to sustain a cardiac workload over time." Contact: Dr AA Hagege, Service de Cardiologie, Hopital Europeen Georges Pompidou, 20 rue Leblanc, 75015 Paris, France;
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