Israeli stem cell research could boost regenerative medicine, genetic disease study and customized drugs.

Researchers from Rambam Health Care Campus and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have succeeded – for the first time ever – in generating heart cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Artificially created cells generated from adult human cells, IPSCs can become almost any cell in the body. In this pioneering work, human IPSCs became heart cells, with all the functional properties that characterize them.

An article on this research, led by Prof Lior Gepstein, a senior cardiologist at Rambam and the Technion’s Rapport Medical School, appeared in the last issue of the prestigious journal Circulation, causing a great sensation in the scientific community.

The work of Gepstein and his team is based on breakthrough research by the Japanese stem cell researcher, Prof Shinya Yamanaka, who generated induced pluripotent stem cells from mouse body cells. In the past, this had been possible only by using stem cells derived from embryos.

By combining Prof Yamanaka’s technique of creating IPSCs with their own method, Gepstein and his team created patient-specific heart cells, which have three major applications.

“Foremost, in contrast to embryonic stem cells, the adult human iSTCs will not be rejected by the patient’s body, and can make a great contribution to regenerative medicine,” says Gepstein.

“The cells can also be used for the study of genetic disorders, as they allow for patient-specific models of diseases, “continues Gepstein. “It is impossible to study many general disorders, as they are within the patient’s body”, he adds.

Also applicable to personalized medicine, the Haifa-based breakthrough enables drug testing outside the patient’s body. This can aid in the creation of hand-tailored drugs that will not affect the patient adversely. 

 Commenting on the sequential aspect of his research, Gepstein, summarizes, “During the last few years, we have worked to coax the differentiation of stem cells to heart cells,” he says.  “In this recent research project, we were able to apply the knowhow gained from our past work to make IPSC-derived heart cells.”