[PT][EN]

Today we observe World Heart Day, an initiative that we embrace on our Dias D da Ciência at CEDOC. As such, we have an opinion article signed by two of our researchers, José Belo and Otília Vieira, principal investigators from the Stem Cells and Development and Lysosomes in Chronic Human Pathologies and Infection laboratories, respectively. Both will represent NOVA Medical School's CEDOC at the first Festival Internacional da Ciência next October in Oeiras with an activity called New Therapies and Biomarkers in Cardiovascular Diseases. Do not miss it:

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main cause of death and disability in the world, being responsible for the use of a considerable part of the budget of different health services. These diseases are part of the “noncommunicable diseases” and most of them develop silently over the years. Cardiovascular diseases are multifactorial and, therefore, it is important to i) alert society to adopt healthy lifestyles in order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases; ii) early diagnosis of the disease; iii) scientific research to identify new biomarkers and new therapeutic targets for disease prevention and treatment, respectively.

Within CVD , myocardial infarction (MI) is a condition that affects the lives of millions of people around the world. After a heart attack, cardiac tissue does not have the ability to regenerate on its own. The main reason for this is the weak proliferative capacity of cardiomyocytes (CM), programmed to cease soon after birth. As a result, cardiac function is not fully restored. The only long-term solution for MS patients is heart transplantation. However, the number of available donors is extremely small, and the rejection of the new organ is a problem that still persists. Stem cell-based approaches emerged in the last decade as the therapies with the greatest potential for application in Regenerative Medicine.

Currently, cardiomyocytes derived from patient stem cells (hiPSC-CM) can be produced in the laboratory with a high degree of purity. Therefore, the identification of strategies for the preparation of hiPSC-CM that survive transplantation and, at the same time, rapidly reach adult phenotypic maturity is a necessary scientific advance for an effective development of the new cardiac Regenerative Medicine.