Revealed: two men in China were first to receive pioneering stem-cell treatment for heart-disease

Revealed: two men in China were first to receive pioneering stem-cell treatment for heart-disease





Heart muscle derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (pictured) is being trialed in people. (Thomas Deerinck, NCMIR/SPL)

New stem-cell treatment for heart disease

Nature reveals that two men in China are the first people in the world to receive an experimental heart-disease treatment based on ‘reprogrammed’ stem cells. In January, a similar approach achieved a world first when sheets of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells were grafted onto a patient’s heart. This time, the iPS cells were injected right into the organ. No results have been published yet, so researchers not involved in the work have cautioned that there is no way to confirm whether the treatment works. But the cardiac surgeon who performed the procedures says both men are doing well one year on.

Nature | 7 min read