Stem cells culled from the bone marrow of healthy donors work as well or
even better as cells harvested from patients themselves as a treatment for
damaged hearts and are more convenient to use, according to new research.
The 13-month trial was the first to compare the safety and effectiveness
of so-called mesenchymal, or bone marrow-derived, stem cells taken from
patients themselves versus those provided by donors. Such adult stem cells that renew themselves and mature into specific
cell types have been used for 40 years in bone marrow transplants.
Scientists are now exploring their use as treatments for ailments such
as heart disease and inflammatory conditions, some of the biggest markets in
medicine. The rationale behind using patients' own stem cells to treat disease
is that they do not trigger an attack by the body's immune system. Mesenchymal
stem cells, however, are also not recognized as foreign tissue.
Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine,
funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that previously prepared
cells from a healthy donor were comparatively safe and may offer the most
convenience since it takes up to eight weeks to grow the amount of stem cells
needed for the treatment.
The study involved 30 patients whose hearts were damaged by an earlier
heart attack. Half received heart-muscle injections of their own cells, while
the other half received donor cells. Scar tissue was reduced by 33 percent in
both groups, a result researchers called "very, very significant."
Improvements in heart function were seen in 28 percent of those
receiving donor cells, and in 50 percent of patients receiving their own cells.
After a year, five patients in the donor cell group and eight who received
their own cells suffered serious adverse events. "The trials so far have
very small patient numbers," said Stefanie Dimmeler, director of the
Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration Center of Molecular Medicine at Johann
Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. "I think this early work
in cardiac stem cells look very promising."
The trial results were presented here at the annual scientific meeting
of the American Heart Association and published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association. Companies working to develop off-the-shelf stem cell
treatments include Celgene Corp, Pluristem Therapeutics Inc, Athersys Inc and
Mesoblast Ltd.
Source: Chicago Tribune
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