Experts 'grow' part of human heart

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If animal trials scheduled for later this year prove successful, replacement tissue could be used in transplants for people suffering from heart disease within three years, the Guardian newspaper reported.

The team, led by Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, at the heart science centre at London's Harefield hospital, has grown tissue that works in the same way as the valves in human hearts.

This is a "significant" step towards the goal of growing whole replacement hearts from stem cells, the newspaper said.

According to the newspaper, World Health Organisation figures show there were 15 million deaths from cardiovascular disease in 2005.

By 2010, it is estimated that 600,000 people around the world will need replacement heart valves.

Replacement organs are in very short supply and, though some of the functions can be reproduced by artificial systems, not all can. Growing replacement tissue from stem cells has been a key goal of scientists.

If a damaged part of the body can be replaced by tissue that is genetically matched to the patient, there is no chance of rejection. So far, scientists have grown tendons, cartilage and bladders, but none of these has the complexity of organs.

Sir Magdi, a professor of cardiac surgery at Imperial College, London, told the Guardian: "You can see the common pathway of death and suffering is heart failure. Reversing heart failure could have a major impact."

He added that the team's latest work had brought the goal of growing a whole, beating human heart closer.