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New beginnings

How new cell origins could help renew heart vessels

January 7, 2016 8:00 AM UTC

The idea of regenerating tissue in coronary arteries after heart disease or injury has been slow to take hold because, although it's well-established that cells from the epicardium give rise to the smooth muscle in coronary arteries, little is known about which cells are involved or what governs their differentiation. Now, a group from Stanford University has discovered that pericytes - an endogenous cell type found in the heart - act as progenitors of smooth muscle cells in the coronary arteries and could be deployed to regenerate the damaged vessels.

The findings could offer the pharma industry another approach to tackle heart disease. A growing number of companies - including Taxus Cardium Pharmaceuticals Group Inc. (OTCQB:CRXM), ViroMed Co. Ltd. (KOSDAQ:084990) and VentriNova Inc. - are pursuing gene therapies to treat myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease as alternatives to the standard treatments of bypass surgery, insertion of stents, or transplantation...