The bank will be located in the National Heart Centre Singapore’s new premises at Outram Park, which, when completed next year, will be the first in Asia. Those responsible for the development of the cell bank also hope that it may be used to test the cells of healthy people to predict the likelihood of future wellness problems, or to heal diseased cells and use them for treatment.
According to Associate Professor Philip Wong, director of the centre’s research and development unit, skin samples collected from patients will be converted into induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells can develop into different types of cells, such as those of the bone, tissues and heart. In terms of assessing your risk of heart disease, a scientist can collect your skin sample, turn it into stem cells, grow those into heart cells and then look for genetic signs of the disease.
This type of procedure is far easier on your physical and financial wellbeing, as the investigator will be able to evaluate your risk of heart disease far more easily and inexpensively than it would be if he or she extracted the cells from your heart. According to Wong, ‘Even for children, for example, we can use this method as a “crystal ball” to check if they are likely to develop certain diseases.
In the July edition of the European Heart Journal, the scientists showed that their method can test early for signs of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy – a rare inherited heart-muscle disease linked to sudden death among young men, and only usually detected at a late stage or after death. The team’s method could also be used to collected and repair your own diseased stem cells to then treat you with.
Wong explained, ‘If we find that the stem cell will grow into a diseased heart cell, we could find out how to repair it so it grows into a healthy heart cell. We could then implant the healthy engineered cells back in the patient’s body or use gene therapy to change the diseased cells in the body.’ He added that the method could prevent the children from developing the disease in the first place.