PNAS: Placental stem cells contribute to the regeneration process after heart disease

at mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine have shown that cdx2 cells, stem cells from the placenta, can regenerate healthy heart cells after a heart attack. The findings were published May 20 in PNAS.
"s history holds that cdx2 cells function only to produce placentals during early embryonic development, but have never previously been shown to have the ability to regenerate other organs. These findings may also pave the way for regenerative therapy. Other organs besides the heart," said Dr. Hina Chaudhry, director of cardiovascular regenerative medicine at mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine. "They can target the injured area and go directly into the damaged area through the circulatory system to repair it, and they can avoid rejection by the host immune system."team at Mount Sinai has previously found that a mixture of placental stem cells in mice can help a pregnant female's heart recover from an injury that could lead to heart failure. In the study, they found that placental stem cells can migrate directly to heart damage. It is then reprogrammed as mature heart cells to help with the repair process.new study aims to determine what type of stem cells can regenerate heart cells. The researchers first studied Cdx2 cells, the most common type of stem cell in previously identified populations, and found that they accounted for the highest proportion of placental-assisted hearts (40 percent).to test the regenerative properties of Cdx2 cells, the researchers induced a heart attack in three groups of male mice. One group received CDx2 stem cell therapy from the placenta of the terminally pregnant mouse, one group received placental cells that did not express Cdx2, and the third group was treated with control. The team used magnetic resonance imaging to analyze all mice immediately after a heart attack and 3 months after cell treatment or control. They found that each mouse in the Cdx2 stem cell therapy group had significant improvements and regeneration of heart health tissue. By three months, stem cells migrate directly to heart damage and form new blood vessels and new myocardial cells.the researchers noted two other properties of cdx2 cells: they contain all the proteins of embryonic stem cells, which are known to produce all organs of the body, and other proteins that allow them to enter the damaged area directly, which appears to have avoided the host's immune response. (Bio Valley Bioon .com)