西班牙研究人员首次通过从人类心脏中提取的成熟细胞将脂肪组织的干细胞转变成为心肌细胞。换句话说，他们已经重新编程了成熟的干细胞，并能改善心脏病的治疗效果。
目前，利用干细胞治疗心脏病非常普遍。然而，没有目标心脏组织对于干细胞治疗效果会有影响。因此，诱导细胞分化成心肌细胞是这类疾病治疗上的最佳选择之一。
研究人员从人类脂肪组织中分离出成熟的干细胞，让这些细胞暂时暴露于人类的心房细胞中，随后再对这些细胞重新进行培养。经过12天的培养，这些细胞向着心肌细胞的表型方向分化，这可以通过以下方面得到证明：这些细胞从形态上发生了改变，表现为带有纤维纹和分枝的双核细胞；免疫荧光检查发现，它们带有心脏特有的标记；RT - PCR检测证明，这些细胞存在心肌基因；它们有逆转录表达。这样，这些干细胞获得了一个心脏的表型。
未来可通过这项技术从患者身上直接提取细胞来再生心肌细胞。但是医生们表示，目前这项研究还处于初期阶段，要用于治疗还有很长一段时间。
研究人员目前准备了一种新的方法，就是诱导细胞提取液使其变成靶细胞，这样就会获得大量的分化细胞，这对治疗很有必要。下一步，研究人员要通过动物验证这些分化细胞的功能。最后还要通过许多临床试验来评价这项技术在人类中的可行性。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Cytotherapy DOI: 10.3109/14653240903548202
Human cardiac tissue induces transdifferentiation of adult stem cells towards cardiomyocytes
Macarena Perán?1,2*, Juan A. Marchal?2,3*, Elena López?2, Manuel Jiménez-Navarro?4, Houria Boulaiz?2,3, Fernando Rodríguez-Serrano?2,3, Esmeralda Carrillo?2,3, Gema Sánchez-Espin?4, Eduardo de Teresa?4, David Tosh?5 & Antonia Aranega?2,3
Department of Health Sciences, University of Jaén, Spain
Biopathology and Medicine Regenerative Institute (IBIMER), Granada, Spain
Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Spain
Heart Unit, Virgen de la Victoria, Clinical University Hospital, Málaga, Spain
Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, UK
*These authors contributed equally to this work
Background aims. The goal was to induce the transdifferentiation (or conversion) of human adipose-derived stem cells to cardiomyocytes using an intracellular extract obtained from adult human heart tissue. Methods. Human adult stem cells from lipoaspirates were transiently permeabilized, exposed to human atrial extracts and allowed to recover in culture. Results. After 21 days, the cells acquired a cardiomyocyte phenotype, as demonstrated by morphologic changes (appearance of binucleate, striated cells and branching fibers), immunofluorescence detection of cardiac-specific markers (connexin-43, sarcomeric α-actinin, cardiac troponin I and T, and desmin) and the presence of cardiomyocyte-related genes analyzed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (cardiac myosin light chain 1, α-cardiac actin, cardiac troponin T and cardiac β-myosin). Conclusions. We have demonstrated for the first time that adult cardiomyocytes obtained from human donors retain the capacity to induce cardiomyocyte differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells. The use of autologous extracts for reprogramming adult stem cells may have potential therapeutic implications for treating heart disease.
