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Researchers have found that giving fibroblasts a bath in a mixture of nine chemicals can convert the collagen-producing skin cells into cardiac-like cells. A long-held goal, this type of cellular manipulation could give surgeons a source of tissue to help repair damage after a heart attack. A team led by Sheng Ding of the University of California, San Francisco, developed the method and has shown that the new cardiomyocytes, which are muscle cells that help the heart beat, can repair cardiac damage in mice (Science 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf1502). Researchers have been attempting to accomplish this fibroblast-to-cardiomyocyte conversion by a variety of methods, most notably through genetic manipulation. However, the yields have been poor. Ding’s group selected 83 compounds, which included enzyme inhibitors and epigenetic modulators known to help reprogram cell growth and development, to steer the cells toward cardiac function. The researchers exposed human foreskin fibroblasts to various combinations of the compounds, finding that one set of nine compounds accomplished the conversion to cardiac-like cells with beating behavior. They then transplanted the cells into mice with cardiac damage similar to that caused by heart attacks. Two weeks later, the rodent’s heart function had improved.
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