Cardiac patients could have their own or donated cells engineered into heart valve or muscle replacements and implanted within six weeks from donation. This could be possible in as little as three to five years say top heart surgeons in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - published recently.

Professor Magdi Yacoub, the world's leading heart surgeon and Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Imperial College, based at the Heart Science Centre at Harefield Hospital has compiled the progress of his team and researchers worldwide for a special edition of the journal entitled 'Bioengineering the heart'.

Professor Yacoub said: "Currently people suffering from heart valve disease can be treated with artificial replacement valves - they do the job and save people's lives but they are far from perfect. Although there has been huge progress in developing mechanical replacements, they still work mechanically and not physiologically - they cannot match the elegant sophisticated functions of living tissues"

The use of stem cells in cardiovascular tissue engineering has the potential to mend damaged valves or heart muscle, providing a 'like for like' match which would grow and repair in the same way as patient's own heart tissue, unlike a donor valve or artificial mechanical valve.

"The ultimate goal is to produce 'off-the-shelf' products which will not cause an immune response from patients. This should be possible in the next five to eight years. Using stem cells rather than animal heart valves will reduce the risk of serious human disease caused by rejection."

Currently, only limited heart valve replacements are available and all have the problem of durability. This latest research could potentially lead to an unlimited number of heart valves being readily available to treat the 80, 000 people worldwide who will need replacements by the year 2020.

Biological substitutes perform many additional sophisticated functions which can enhance heart muscle function, exercise capacity and quality of life. These could have important implications for the wellbeing and survival of the patient. In order to achieve this, researchers in developmental biology, stem cell biology, immunology and tissue engineering need to work closely together.

In 2005, over 15 million people died of cardiovascular disease - it is one of the major causes of death and suffering in both the developed and developing countries and there is an urgent need for prevention and treatment.

Highlighted papers include:

Bioengineering the heart by M. Yacoub & R. Nerem
Contact: Sir Magdi Yacoub - via the Royal Society press office

Tissue engineering of heart valves using decellularized xenogeneic or polymeric starter matrices by Dörthe Schmidt, Ulrich A. Stock, Simon P. Hoerstrup
Contact: Simon Hoerstrup, Department of Surgical Research and Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital,
Raemistrasse Zurich/Switzerland simon_philipp.hoerstrup@chi.usz.ch

The heart-forming fields: one or multiple? by Antoon F.M. Moorman, Vincent M. Christoffels, Robert H. Anderson, Maurice J.B. van den Hoff
Contact: Antoon Moorman, Heart Failure Research Center, University of Amsterdam a.f.moorman@amc.uva.nl

Immune response to stem cells and strategies to induce tolerance by Puspa Batten, Nadia A. Rosenthal, Magdi H. Yacoub
Contact: Puspa Batten, Tissue Engineering Group, Heart Science Centre, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London pusba.batten@harefield.nthames.nhs.uk

Biomimetic approach to cardiac tissue engineering by M. Radisic, H. Park, S. Gerecht, C. Cannizzaro, R. Langer, G. Vunjak-Novakovic
Contact: Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University gv2131@columbia.edu

Molecular and functional characteristics of heart-valve interstitial cells by Adrian H. Chester, Patricia M. Taylor
Contact: Adrian Chester, Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, a.chester@imperial.ac.uk

Remaining papers include:

Extracellular matrix, mechanotransduction and structural hierarchies in heart tissue engineering by Kevin K. Parker, Donald E. Ingber
donald.ingber@childrens.harvard.edu

Designed triple-helical peptides as tools for collagen biochemistry and matrix engineering by Takaki Koide
koi@nupals.ac.jp

Applying elastic fibre biology in vascular tissue engineering by Cay M. Kielty, Simon Stephan, Michael J. Sherratt, Matthew Williamson, C. Adrian Shuttleworth
cay.kielty@manchester.ac.uk

Biological matrices and bionanotechnology by Patricia M. Taylor
patricia.taylor@imperial.ac.uk

Cell-bionics: tools for real-time sensor processing by Chris Toumazou, Tony Cass
c.toumazou@imperial.ac.uk

Flow and myocardial interaction: an imaging perspective by Guang-Zhong Yang, Robert Merrifield, Sharmeen Masood, Philip J. Kilner
g.z.yang@imperial.ac.uk

Heart valve function: a biomechanical perspective by Michael S. Sacks, Ajit P. Yoganathan
Contact: Michael Sacks, University of Pittsburgh, msacks@pitt.edu

Fluid - structure interaction models of the mitral valve: function in normal and pathological states by K.S. Kunzelman, D.R. Einstein, R.P. Cochran
Contact: Karyn Kunzelman, Central Maine Medical Center, USA kunzelka@cmhc.org

Aortic root dynamics and surgery: from craft to science by Allen Cheng, Paul Dagum, D. Craig Miller
Contact: Craig Miller, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, dcm@stanford.edu

Heart valve macro- and microstructure by Martin Misfeld, Hans-Hinrich Sievers
Contact: Martin Misfeld, University of Luebeck, Germany, martinmisfeld@yahoo.com

Valvular endothelial cells and the mechanoregulation of valvular pathology by Jonathan T. Butcher, Robert M. Nerem
Contact: Jonathan Butcher, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca jtb47@cornell.edu

The shear stress of it all: the cell membrane and mechanochemical transduction by Charles R. White, John A. Frangos
Contact: John Frangos, La Jolla Bioengineering Institute, USA frangos@ljbi.org

Understanding endothelial cell apoptosis: what can the transcriptome, glycome and proteome reveal? by Muna Affara, Benjamin Dunmore, Christopher Savoie, Seiya Imoto, Yoshinori Tamada, Hiromitsu Araki, D. Stephen Charnock-Jones, Satoru Miyano, Cristin Print
Contact: Cristin Print, University of Auckland, c.print@auckland.ac.nz

Valvulogenesis: the moving target by Jonathan T. Butcher, Roger R. Markwald
Contact: Jonathan Butcher, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca jtb47@cornell.edu

Feeling into form by Antony Gormley
Contact: Antony Gormley, admin-work@antonygormley.com

The Royal Society's Philosophical Transaction Journals are published on Mondays. Our weekly journals (Proceedings of the Royal Society A & B, Biology letters, Interface etc) are published on Wednesdays

1. Professor Magdi Yacoub will only be available for interview on Friday 31 August after 2pm - please phone the Royal Society press office to arrange an interview

2. The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting the natural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as the UK academy of science, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency. It responds to individual demand with selection by merit, not by field. As we prepare for our 350th anniversary in 2010, we are working to achieve five strategic priorities to:

-- Invest in future scientific leaders and in innovation
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-- Invigorate science and mathematics education
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