Injecting heart patients with genetically-engineered cells 'could save their lives'

In tests on mice, treatment more than halved the risk of ventricular tachycardia.

Adapting the treatment could prove a lifesaver for many of the 230,000 Britons who have a heart attack each year.

Ventricular tachycardia, an abnormally fast heart rhythm caused by scarring to the cardiac tissue, can occur weeks, months or even years after a heart attack.

Patients at risk can have a tiny defibrillator implanted in the chest to deliver an electric shock to return the rhythm to normal whenever the heart speeds up.

The latest research, carried out by scientists in Germany and the U.S., initially used injections of immature cells taken from the hearts of embryonic mice.

A protein in the cells played a critical role in cutting the risk of the condition.

The scientists then used leg muscle cells to make the protein. These were also effective, cutting the risk by 60 per cent.

Using cells taken from muscle would side-step ethical issues

associated with those taken from embryos.

Dr Bernd Fleischmann of the University of Bonn in Germany, said the results showed that cell transplants "protect against the induction of ventricular tachycardia in mice".

British heart experts described the research, published in the journal Nature, as "extremely exciting".

Dr Tim Chico, a consultant cardiologist at Sheffield Uniimplantsversity, said the breakthrough opened up the possibility of all heart attack survivors being given injections of geneticallyengineered cells to stave off later problems.

He said: "Possibly you would want to do it for everyone.

"If it was cheap, easy and safe, there is no reason why you wouldn't."

The treatment could be used as an alternative to defibrillator

Dr Chico added: "If it can be repeated in humans, it would be a breakthrough in the treatment of patients with heart disease and could save thousands of lives."

Treatment could be carried out in two ways.

The first would mirror the method used in the mice and would involve taking immature cells from the muscles of heart patients.

They would then be grown in the lab and modified to make the key heart protein before being injected back into the patient.

The second scenario, which the researchers believe is more likely to succeed, would involve skin cells.

Cocktails of genes would be used to turn back the clock on the skin cells, encouraging them to take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells - "master cells" capable of turning into different types of tissue.

The reprogrammed cells would then be coaxed into becoming heart cells, which would naturally produce the vital protein, before being injected.

Other scientists are researching the use of stem cells in staving off cardiac conditions, including heart failure.