Stem cells treating heart problems

[NinaGucci]

Human heart tissue grown from stem cells
13:20 02 April 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Andy Coghlan


Part of a human heart has been grown from stem cells for the first time, a UK research team has announced. The small discs of tissue could represent the first step towards building a whole heart from stem cells.

The 3-centimetre-wide discs are made from the same tissue as heart valves, and the team which created them at the Harefield Heart Science Centre near London hopes to test prototypes of valves in animals later this year.

The stem cells – extracted from bone marrow – were exposed to various chemicals in the lab which caused them to differentiate into heart valve cells. These were then grown into discs over scaffolds of collagen – the connective tissue in limbs and organs.

Led by heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub, the team told Guardian newspaper that the full results will be published in August in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

Animal trials are planned for later this year and, if successful, replacement tissue could be used in transplants for people suffering from heart disease within three years, they said.

“Like everything published ahead of time, it’s hard to work out exactly what they’ve done,” said Stephen Minger, a stem cell scientist at King’s College London in the UK. Yacoub told the newspaper that similar valves could be fitted in patients within five years, but it would take at least 10 years to build an entire heart.

Human heart tissue grown from stem cells - health - 02 April 2007 - New Scientist


Heart attack victims to be given own stem cells
A revolutionary treatment is giving patients hope of making a much more rapid recovery
By Nigel Hawkes

Heart attack victims will be given a revolutionary new treatment involving an injection of their own stem cells to repair the organ damage that they have suffered.

Groundbreaking clinical trials are to start at two London hospitals into the use of the therapy, which is carried out within hours of a cardiac arrest.

Patients will be given injections of stem cells extracted from bone marrow taken from the hip to delay or prevent the onset of heart failure.

Animal experiments and some clinical studies in Europe have suggested that the treatment will work, but the British research, to be carried out at University College Hospital (UCH) and Bart’s and the London, will be the first double-blind clinical trial designed to prove it.
Stem cells found in the bone marrow have the capacity to develop into a wide variety of cells. In this case, it is hoped that they will turn into muscle cells, repairing the damage of the heart attack or preventing it from occurring.

Each year about 87,000 Britons suffer heart attacks — the equivalent to one every two minutes. Heart disease, leading to heart failure, claims 108,000 lives in the UK annually. Fewer people have been dying during the acute phase of a heart attack over the past decade, but survivors often go on to die from long-term effects, including heart failure.

John Martin, a cardiologist with the British Heart Foundation, based at UCH, said that there were many potential benefits to the new treatment, which could not only save lives, but also carried no added costs.

“There have been a couple of clinical trials in Germany to demonstrate that the technique is safe. In these trials, the bone marrow cells were given late, some time after the heart attack, in order to repair the muscle,” Professor Martin said.

“We believe that if we give it immediately, it can prevent damage. We will show whether it works in acute heart attack — and the treatment will involve no extra stay in hospital and virtually no extra cost.”

When patients are admitted to hospital after a heart attack, they are usually treated with balloon angioplasty, in which a catheter is inserted through the groin and into the blocked coronary artery. A balloon is then inflated to reopen the artery. Professor Martin said that the technique had led to significant increases in survival and decreases in damage to heart muscle.

The trial will test the effect of adding a further stage to the process. Bone marrow will be extracted from the patient’s hip bone, treated to separate out the right type of cells, and injected into the heart through the angioplasty catheter.

The plan is to treat 100 patients at the London Chest Hospital, part of Bart’s, and the London Heart Hospital, which is attached to UCH.

Half will be given the stem cell treatment, and half the identical treatment, but using a placebo. Neither doctor nor patient will know which is being given.

After two years each patient’s condition will be assessed using MRI scans, to see how well the heart is pumping, and there will be quality-of-life assessments to determine whether the patients given the bone marrow cells are fitter than the controls.

“There is good animal evidence in rats and mice that it will work,” Professor Martin said. “There are no drugs involved, and nothing to patent, so if the treatment works it will be available to all who can benefit, without extra cost.”

The trial has been backed by the UK Stem Cell Foundation, which helps pioneering stem cell projects, and is supported financially by William Bollinger and his wife, Judith, both successful bankers, and the London Development Agency.

David Macauley, chief executive of the UK Stem Cell Foundation, said: “It’s an interesting approach, and the animal data says we’re going to see some benefits. Heart disease is still the biggest killer. It killed 108,000 people last year, and there’s a heart attack every two minutes. There is no quality treatment available for the damage done by a heart attack.

“We want to see people getting back to work, or back to the golf course. We’re looking for very, very clear benefits.”

Anthony Mathur, senior lecturer and consultant cardiologist at Bart’s, said: “If we can demonstrate improvement in the quality of life of patients, then this will be a significant step forward in the treatment of heart disease.

“Because the stem cells are taken from the patient, there are minimal ethical issues surrounding this procedure. There is also less likelihood of rejection complications.”

The trial was welcomed by Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, who said: “In the future, stem cells could herald a new frontier for heart patients. We welcome research that helps us understand the potential role stem cells may yet play in treating heart disease.”

Heart attack victims to be given own stem cells-News-UK-Health-TimesOnline

[Bent_Bladi]

wow - so much is being done with stem cells - I only wonder what the islamic perspective on them is..... In my opinion, something that can save this many lives and help cure this many people is good .

... well maybe the article should say:

...and the team which helped grow them

rather than

...and the team which created them

[Al-khiyal]

wow - so much is being done with stem cells - I only wonder what the islamic perspective on them is....

Here is one Islamic perspective, and here is a brief discussion of others.

[Bent_Bladi]

interesting... thanks for sharing al-khiyal. I'm going to look into it some more

[Al-khiyal]

June 22, 2007 -- British scientists are to try out a new way to repair damage caused by heart attacks. By injecting patients' damaged hearts with stem cells from their own bone marrow scientists hope to regenerate tissue.

Raimondo Ascione of the University of Bristol will lead the trial on 60 people who have recently had large heart attacks. During coronary bypass operations Dr Ascione will inject the patients with stem cells that may transform into the types of heart cells that repair damaged tissue.

Heart disease is the UK's biggest killer - around 230,000 people suffer a heart attack each year. Almost a third of them die. Heart attacks are caused when heart muscle loses its blood supply, often because the arteries get furred up with fatty material. Cells in the oxygen-starved part die, scar and reduce the heart's ability to pump blood.

"One in three people will die within two or three years and the remaining people will have a very poor quality of life," said Dr Ascione. "Your exercise tolerance will be very poor, you will not to be able to enjoy your life. If this [experiment] works you will minimise this ... the point of this trial is to do the bypass and try to repair the scar, to make it a viable muscle again."

The experiment will use a type of stem cell that forms about 1% of the bone marrow. "This approach ensures no risk of rejection or infection," said Dr Ascione.

Before the operation and six months later, scientists will carry out MRI scans of the patients' hearts. "We expect that part we injected to be repaired and it will pump and contract properly," he said.

Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation which is funding the trial with a £210,000 grant, said: "We hope that this exciting project will provide information taking us a step nearer to the day when stem cells can be used routinely to help repair damaged hearts."

Dr Ascione said that if the trial was successful it could be extended to every patient with heart disease.

"It also gets around the ethical issues that would result from use of stem cells from embryonic or foetal tissue," said Dr Ascione.

Heart attack patients to receive stem cell test treatment