Researchers isolate a master heart cell

Researchers isolate a master heart cell - The Boston Globe: "A team of Harvard scientists announced yesterday that it has discovered a single kind of cell that builds the three main types of heart tissue, an advance that boosts the prospects of using cells to treat heart disease, the nation's top killer.
The team identified the heart cell in mice, and proved that it develops into the muscle cells that power the heart, the cells that make up blood vessels, and the smooth muscle cells that allow the vessels to expand and contract.
If the human equivalent of the new cells is found, it could be given to patients to rebuild heart tissue that cannot be repaired today. The work could also give biologists new tools to look for heart drugs.
There has been a rush of work in recent years to develop therapies that inject cells capable of repairing patients' damaged heart muscle. But the field has been hampered because biologists have not known what type of cell to use. Researchers around the world have launched clinical trials, but the trials have used blood cells, not heart cells, and the results have been modest, at best.
The research identifies, for the first time, a kind of master heart cell, similar to a stem cell, with a proven ability to build a wide range of heart tissues. The scientists cautioned that important obstacles remain before cell therapies based on the research can be tested in humans."