RESUMO
Cardiomyocytes in the adult human heart show a regenerative capacity, with an annual renewal rate around 0.5%. Whether this regenerative capacity of human cardiomyocytes is employed in heart failure has been controversial. Using retrospective 14C birth dating we analyzed cardiomyocyte renewal in patients with end-stage heart failure. We show that cardiomyocyte generation is minimal in end-stage heart failure patients at rates 18-50 times lower compared to the healthy heart. However, patients receiving left ventricle support device therapy, who showed significant functional and structural cardiac improvement, had a >6-fold increase in cardiomyocyte renewal relative to the healthy heart. Our findings reveal a substantial cardiomyocyte regeneration potential in human heart disease, which could be exploited therapeutically.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to assess whether the widespread concern of inferior cancer survival in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) compared with children and adults holds true in a Nordic setting with important differences in healthcare organisation compared with the United States (e.g. free access to healthcare) and the United Kingdom (e.g. young teenagers are treated in paediatric departments). METHODS: Five-year relative survival was calculated for 17 diagnostic groups in patients diagnosed in 2000-2013 in three diagnostic age categories: children (0-14 years), AYAs (15-24 years) and adults (25-34 years). RESULTS: For 13 out of 17 diagnostic groups examined, there was no difference in survival between AYAs and neighbouring age categories. For acute lymphoblastic leukaemias, astrocytomas, rhabdomyosarcomas and non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas we found survival in children to be superior to that in AYAs. For these four diagnostic groups, the rate of survival improvement over three calendar periods (1980-1989, 1990-1999 and 2000-2013) was not particularly low in AYAs compared with neighbouring age categories. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that in an affluent setting with free access to healthcare, meaningful differences in survival between AYA patients and either childhood or adult patients are a phenomenon of the past for most AYA cancer diagnostic groups.