MONDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- Newly-identified stem cells
located on the surface of the heart give rise to heart muscle
cells, say researchers at Children's Hospital Boston. They
believe the finding may lead to ways to regenerate injured heart
tissue. In previous research, the Children's team found that two
types of stem cells (progenitors) marked by activity of the
genes Nkx2-5 and IsI1 form many components of the heart. In this
new study, the team identified another progenitor, marked by
expression of a gene called Wt1, that gives rise to heart muscle
cells. The findings were published online June 22 in the journal
Nature. "There's a lot of interest in finding places to obtain
new cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), because in heart
failure, you lose cardiomyocytes, so the only way to reverse
heart failure is to make more of these cells," study senior
investigator Dr. William Pu, a pediatric cardiologist, said in a
prepared statement. Although it was known that cells on the
surface of the heart (epic