Researchers create human heart valve tissues from stem cells

Researchers in Australia have created human heart valve tissues from stem cells, providing a new platform to advance treatments for childhood heart diseases.

The study, led by Australia's Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), produced lab-grown heart valve tissues that closely resemble those in the human body, according to an MCRI statement released on Wednesday.

Published in Cell Stem Cell, the findings offer new insights into how human heart valves develop, mature and become damaged.

Holly Voges, a team leader in the MCRI Heart Regeneration group, said the breakthrough could help accelerate regenerative approaches to repairing damaged heart valves in children and adults.

Heart valve disease affects about 28 million people worldwide and can be caused by developmental abnormalities, infection or age-related degeneration. Currently, there are no treatments that can reverse valve damage, with many patients relying on valve replacement surgery, which has significant limitations.

The researchers also showed that the platform could model inflammatory valve disease, an underlying precursor to rheumatic heart disease (RHD), which is largely preventable and disproportionately affects Indigenous populations in Australia.

"When exposed to inflammatory proteins linked to RHD discovered in previous studies, we found the engineered stem cell tissues became stiffer and showed biomarkers consistent with diseased human valves," Voges said.

MCRI Professor Enzo Porrello said the technology could eventually support the development of stem cell-derived replacement valves that grow and adapt with patients.