Hypertrophic Cardiomypahthy

In an astute cell engineering experiment, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine (Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC) converted skin fibroblasts from patients with a rare genetic disorder (cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome) into induced pluripotent stem cells, and then converted the stem cells into beating cardiomyocytes which expressed the growth features of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. According to the scientists involved, the significance “is that we may be talking about a signaling circle” in which fibroblasts trigger the release of a growth factor, which causes cardiomyocytes to hypertrophy, which in turn, prompts fibroblasts to release more of the growth factor.”   MORE

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