C-kit cells, which are found in the heart and supposedly act as cardiac stem cells, are the basis of a clinical trial to repair cardiac injury. But a new study published in Nature May 7 adds what some researchers are calling “definitive” evidence to the idea that these cells hardly ever produce new heart muscle in vivo. Using genetic lineage tracing in a mouse, a team led by Jeff Molkentin of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that, while c-kit cells readily produce cardiac endothelium, they very rarely generate cardiomyocytes.
“The conclusion I am led to from this is that the c-kit cell is not a cardiac stem cell, at least in term of its normal, in vivo role,” said Charles Murry, a heart regeneration researcher at the University of Washington who was not involved in this study.
Read the full, original story: More Doubt Cast Over Cardiac Stem Cells
