New Hearts

A heart patient’s own skin cells could soon be used to repair damaged cardiac tissue, thanks to the pioneering stem cell research of a leading biomedical scientist at the University of Houston. 

Robert Schwartz’s new technique for reprogramming human skin cells puts him at the forefront of a revolution in medicine that could one day yield miracle treatments for Alzheimer’s, diabetes, muscular dystrophy and many other diseases.

Schwartz brought his ground-breaking research to UH as the Cullen Distinguished Professor of Biology and Biochemistry. He is also affiliated with the Texas Heart Institute (THI) at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital where he is director of stem cell engineering.

Schwartz recently devised a method for turning ordinary human skin cells into heart cells. First, the cells are treated with a type of virus and are transformed into induced pluripotent stem cells. These are similar to embryonic stem cells in that they could – in theory – be reprogrammed to become any other type of human cell – such as heart, brain, kidney, etc. 

This avoids the controversial practice of using human embryos. Schwartz then treated the cells with a second factor to make them cardiac progenitors, or early-stage heart cells.

These progenitors – derived from a patient’s own skin cells – could then be implanted and grow into fully developed beating heart cells, reversing the damage caused by previous heart attacks. Survivors of heart attacks are left with dead cardiac tissue that weakens the heart’s ability to pump and can develop into scar tissue and cause arrhythmias. These new heart cells would replace the damaged cardiac tissue.

This technique is in the process of being patented and early clinical trials in which these reprogrammed cells are implanted into heart patients could begin within a few years.