How to mend a broken heart – with a stem cell

By Mark Prigg and Sam Adams

PUBLISHED: 11:14 EST, 3 August 2012 | UPDATED: 11:15 EST, 3 August 2012

Stem cell therapies offer the promise of radical new treatments for everything from Parkinson's to heart disease.

However, researchers have so far struggled to control the cells, the master cells of the body which can be turned into any other cell.

A US team now believes have have made a major step towards potential treatments for cardiac disease with the discovery of a molecule than can turn a stem cell into a heart cell.

Growing hearts: Researchers have found a molecule than can turn a stem cell into a heart cell

Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, and ChemRegen, Inc. have been searching for molecules that convert stem cells to heart cells for about eight years -- and now they've found one.

The researchers use a robot to sift through a large collection of drug-like chemicals and uncovered ITD-1, a molecule that can be used to generate unlimited numbers of new heart cells from stem cells.

'Heart disease is the leading cause of death in this country,' said Mark Mercola, director of Sanford-Burnham's Muscle Development and Regeneration Program and senior author of the study.

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How to mend a broken heart - with a stem cell