Heart cells beating in a Petri dish offer new hope to heart patients

Ingenious use of stem cell research brings treatment for incurable condition closerAdele Johnson was 26 when she was involved in a motorway accident in 2009. She sustained only minor injuries and was able to walk away from the crash. But several weeks later she still felt stressed, tired and depressed.Johnson's condition initially baffled doctors, but a cardiologist provided a diagnosis: she had long QT syndrome, an incurable, potentially lethal inherited heart condition."It had never been spotted and it was only later, when the rest of my family was tested, that we discovered that my father and two of my three sisters also had long QT," said Johnson, who is now training to be a youth worker.Long QT causes serious disruptions to the heartbeat and is associated with a range of symptoms. At its most serious, the condition can set off a problem called an arrhythmia, which can result in heart failure. Some families discover they are affected by long QT only when a member, sometimes a child, dies. About 30,000 people are thought to have the condition in the UK.Treatments can mitigate the worst effects of long QT, but these can have serious side-effects. Now, however, hopes of countering long QT's worst effects have been boosted by scientists working on a pioneer project involving stem cell technology. They have re-created pulsating clumps of patients' heart cells in laboratories to use as test beds for new treatments. A heartbeat has five component waves, called P, Q, R, S and T. ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Biology News Medical research Human biology UK news Stem cells The Observer Science Source Type: news