A hospital in Japan has performed what is being described as the world’s first surgery using commercially available sheets of heart muscle cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells).
The pioneering procedure was carried out on Tuesday at Osaka Keisatsu Hospital, where surgeons transplanted sheets of the muscle cells into the heart of a woman in her 50s.
The one-hour operation marked the first clinical use of the regenerative therapy since it received conditional government approval in March.
Hospital head and surgeon Yoshiki Sawa said the team hoped the treatment would improve the patient’s quality of life.
“Our hope is that this will improve the patient's quality of life,” Sawa told reporters following the operation.
The therapy was developed for patients suffering from ischemic heart disease, a condition in which narrowed or blocked heart arteries can damage the heart muscle.
Clinical trials involving eight patients found that all experienced an improvement in their symptoms, while four reportedly showed improved heart function.
Sawa developed the technology in collaboration with Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 for his pioneering work on iPS cells.
The treatment is primarily intended for patients who have exhausted other available treatment options. It is designed to improve heart muscle function and potentially reduce heart failure symptoms while improving cardiac performance and exercise capacity.
Sawa’s team plans to perform similar procedures on 75 patients by 2033 as part of efforts to gather further evidence on the treatment’s effectiveness and safety.
The therapy is expected to undergo further evaluation before potentially receiving full approval.
Japan has also conditionally approved another iPS cell-based treatment for Parkinson’s disease, involving the transplantation of iPS-derived cells into the brain following a successful clinical trial.
iPS cells are produced by reprogramming mature, specialised cells back into a more primitive state, allowing them to develop into different types of cells in the body.
The technology is considered a significant area of regenerative medicine research, with scientists investigating its potential to repair or replace damaged tissues and organs.