Cells hope for heart defect babies
Updated on 11 November 2008
Cells from umbilical cord blood have been used to build early versions of laboratory-grown heart valves that could in future save the lives of sick children.
The "valves", constructed around biodegradable scaffolds, are made in much the same way as their natural counterparts.
Scientists believe that with improvements they could provide perfectly matched replacement valves for infants born with heart defects.
Often it is impossible to repair malfunctioning heart valves in newborn babies. Instead replacements have to be obtained from human or animal donors, or made from artificial materials.
However, these substitutes cannot grow and change shape as a child develops. Two or more operations may be needed to replace outgrown valves. Animal tissue may also stiffen over time and wear out quickly, and children with artificial valves must also be treated with blood thinners.
The new approach involves growing replacement valves from stem cells taken from a child's own umbilical cord blood. Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into different tissue types.
Dr Ralf Sodian, from the University Hospital of Munich in Germany, who led the research, said: "In our concept, if pre-natal testing shows a heart defect, you could collect blood from the umbilical cord at birth, harvest the stem cells, and fabricate a heart valve that is ready when the baby needs it."
The scientists described their work at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions meeting in New Orleans.
The research raises the possibility of building laboratory-grown replacement heart valves from a child's own tissue. Once implanted in a child, the scaffold would disappear, leaving the valve in place.
Dr Sodian said many problems still had to be overcome, such as how to ensure the valves function properly after being implanted. But he added: "Tissue engineering provides the prospect of an ideal heart valve substitute that lasts throughout the patient's lifetime and has the potential to grow with the recipient and to change shape as needed."
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