Pioneering heart attack stem cell trial treats 1st patient (Canada)

The first patient has been treated in a groundbreaking medical trial in Ottawa that could lead to a new way to repair damaged tissues following a heart attack. Researchers recently announced that a Cornwall, Ontario, woman who suffered a severe heart attack in July was their first test subject. The woman's heart had stopped beating before she was resuscitated, causing major damage to her cardiac muscle. The hope is that a new form of combined gene and stem cell therapy will be able to better repair her heart and those of potentially millions of other heart attack patients. The therapy involves injecting a patient's own stem cells into their heart to help fix areas that become damaged in a heart attack. Stem cells are a fertile regenerative tissue that can replicate into millions of new, healthy cells. But the Ottawa study, led by cardiologist Duncan Stewart of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, takes the technique one step further, combining the stem-cell treatment with gene therapy - which the researchers say is novel. "Stem cells are stimulating the repair. That's what they're there to do," Stewart said in an interview. "But what we've learned is that the regenerative activity of the stem cells in these patients with heart disease is very low, compared to younger, healthy patients"

Heart's own stem cells could help treat cardiac failure

Researchers have highlighted, for the first time, the natural regenerative capacity of a group of stem cells that reside in the heart. According to the new study these cells are responsible for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue damaged by a heart attack that leads to heart failure. The study shows that if the stem cells are eliminated, the heart is unable to repair after damage. If the cardiac stem cells are replaced the heart repairs itself, leading to complete cellular, anatomical and functional heart recovery, with the heart returning to normal and pumping at a regular rate. Also, if the cardiac stem cells are removed and re-injected, they naturally 'home' to and repair the damaged heart, a discovery that could lead to less-invasive treatments and even early prevention of heart failure in the future. The study has been published in the journal Cell

Scientists reveal how to mend a broken heart (with a stem cell)

Stem cell therapies offer the promise of radical new treatments for everything from Parkinson's to heart disease. However, researchers have so far struggled to control the cells, the master cells of the body which can be turned into any other cell. A US team now believes have have made a major step towards potential treatments for cardiac disease with the discovery of a molecule than can turn a stem cell into a heart cell. Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, and ChemRegen, Inc. have been searching for molecules that convert stem cells to heart cells for about eight years - and now they've found one. The researchers use a robot to sift through a large collection of drug-like chemicals and uncovered ITD-1, a molecule that can be used to generate unlimited numbers of new heart cells from stem cells. 'Heart disease is the leading cause of death in this country,' said Mark Mercola, director of Sanford-Burnham's Muscle Development and Regeneration Program and senior author of the study - Daily Mail

Skin cells turned into healthy heart muscle cells

Scientist say they have managed to turn patients' own skin cells into healthy heart muscle in the lab. Ultimately they hope this stem cell therapy could be used to treat heart failure patients. As the transplanted cells are from the individual patient this could avoid the problem of tissue rejection, they told the European Heart Journal. Early tests in animals proved promising but the experimental treatment is still years from being used in people. Experts have increasingly been using stem cells to treat a variety of heart problems and other conditions like diabetes, Parkinsons disease or Alzheimer's. Stem cells are important because they have the ability to become different cell types, and scientists are working on developing ways to get them to repair or regenerate damaged organs or tissues.

Bone marrow stem cells give 'some' heart healing

Bone marrow stem cell therapy offers "moderate improvement" to heart attack patients, according to a large UK review of clinical trials. The analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration looked at 33 trials involving more than 1,700 patients. It said longer-term studies were needed to see if the experimental therapy affected life expectancy. The review comes a day after doctors reported the first case of using heart cells to heal heart attack damage. If a patient survives a heart attack, dead heart muscle is replaced with scar tissue - leaving the patient weaker and possibly on a lifetime of medicine. Researchers are beginning to show that taking cells from a heart, growing millions of new heart cells in the laboratory and pumping those back into the heart may reduce scar tissue and lead to new heart muscle. However, the trials are at a very early stage and in only a handful of patients. Using a similar technique with cells taken from the bone marrow, which is a prime source of stem cells, has a much longer pedigree. The report by Cochrane pooled the data from all 33 bone marrow trials which had taken place up to 2011. It concluded that bone marrow therapy "may lead to a moderate long-term improvement" in heart function which "might be clinically very important"

Ontario's first cardiac stem cell transplant performed at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (Canada)

Heart failure is a leading cause of death in Canada. As part of the ongoing IMPACT-CABG clinical trial to treat advanced heart failure, physicians at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre performed the first cardiac stem cell transplant in Ontario using stem cells derived from the patient's own bone marrow, isolated completely within the operating room, and implanted into the heart at the time of coronary bypass surgery. Researchers hope that stem cell therapy may be developed into a novel treatment for the 50,000 Canadians diagnosed each year with advanced heart failure. The first patient to receive this type of stem cell therapy, James Culross, a 67-year-old man from Etobicoke, will be discharged this week after 2.83 million stem cells were injected into seven sites where his heart had been damaged by a heart attack in November 2011. The stem cells were injected following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, by a multi-disciplinary team led by Dr. Terrence Yau, Cardiac Surgeon and Director of the Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy Program at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. A second patient underwent successful stem cell implantation and CABG surgery at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre

London Chest Professor leads largest-ever heart attack trial

The largest trial of adult stem cell therapy in patients has received funding from the European Union. 3000 patients suffering heart attacks will be recruited into the trial throughout the European Union to test whether stem cells administered shortly after the heart attack will prolong life. Stem cells offer the promise of revolutionary treatment for human disease. However, a definitive test of whether they work or not in this specific case of heart treatment has been lacking. This study will provide the answer. This is the largest trial of its kind, and it is hoped that it could increase survival rates by a quarter among patients having heart attacks. The study has been made possible thanks to a €5.9 million award from the European Commission. The BAMI study will involve 21 partners in 11 European countries. The results will be announced in five years and is designed to test whether stem cell therapy will save lives. Globally, more than 17m people died from cardiovascular diseases last year - more than from any other cause. This landmark trial is being led by Professor Anthony Mathur and colleagues from Barts and the London NHS Trust and Queen Mary, University of London NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit

Newly discovered heart stem cells make muscle and bone

Researchers have identified a new and relatively abundant pool of stem cells in the heart. The findings in the December issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, show that these heart cells have the capacity for long-term expansion and can form a variety of cell types, including muscle, bone, neural and heart cells. The researchers say the discovery may lay a foundation for much needed regenerative therapies aimed to enhance tissue repair in the heart. The damaged heart often doesn't repair itself well because of the incredibly hostile environment and wide-scale loss of cells, including stem cells, after a heart attack. "In the end, we want to know how to preserve the stem cells that are there and to circumvent their loss," says Richard Harvey of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Australia

Cardiac cells 'heal heart damage' (UK)

Stem cells taken from a patient's own heart have, for the first time, been used to repair damaged heart tissue, researchers claim. The study, published in the Lancet, was designed to test the procedure's safety, but also reported improvements in the heart's ability to pump blood. The authors said the findings were "very encouraging". Other experts said techniques with bone marrow stem cells were more advanced and that bigger trials were needed. The scientists say this is the first reported case of cardiac stem cells being used as a treatment in people after earlier studies had shown benefits in animals

UK stem cell stroke trial passes first safety test

The world's first clinical trial of brain stem cells to treat strokes is set to move to its next phase. An independent assessment of the first three patients to have had stem cells injected into their brain at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital has concluded it has had no adverse effect. The assessment paves the way for the therapy to be tested on more patients to find a new treatment for stroke. The hope is that the stem cells will help to repair damaged brain tissue. The trial is being led by Prof Keith Muir of Glasgow University. He told BBC News that he was pleased with the results so far

Stem cell therapy for angina patients

About 250,000 people in Britain suffer from angina, a chronic condition usually caused by heart disease. While many have surgery or take medication, for a significant number this only has a limited effect and they continue to suffer frequent bouts of pain. However, now a US study has found that a novel stem cell technique could markedly improve their quality of life. The method involves patients being injected with a particular type of stem cell harvested from their own bone marrow, which help make blood vessels. A study of 167 patients found that those injected with doses of the CD34+ stem cells went on to report far fewer angina attacks than those given a placebo - The Telegraph

Stem cell therapy can reduce heart size, scar tissue and improve function in cardiac patients

Researchers have shown for the first time that stem cells injected into enlarged hearts reduced heart size, reduced scar tissue and improved function to injured heart areas, according to a small trial published in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers said that while this research is in the early stages, the findings are promising for the more than five million Americans who have enlarged hearts due to damage sustained from heart attacks. These patients can suffer premature death, have major disability and experience frequent hospitalizations. Options for treatment are limited to lifelong medications and major medical interventions, such as heart transplantation, according to Joshua M. Hare, M.D., the study's senior author and professor of medicine and director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami in Miami, FL

Researchers show that heart heals itself (UK)

"The Stem Cell & Molecular Physiology team, at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, led by Dr Georgina Ellison, pictured left, has uncovered vital research that could change the view of the best type of cells to be used to heal the heart after a heart attack. The findings, funded by the British Heart Foundation and the EU FP7 programme, have produced evidence that stem cells resident in the adult heart are playing a key role in both heart cell regeneration and survival.

Sixth International Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease (USA)

The Sixth International Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease (IC3D) is a one-and-a-half day comprehensive program dedicated to the evolving field of cell-based therapies for the repair and regeneration of cardiac and vascular disease, as well as related diseases such as diabetes and stroke. This year's conference will focus on commercialization aspects of the field, highlighting the status of molecular, cell, and tissue products in addition to delivery systems - January 20-21, 2011 - New York City

Stem cells used in stroke trial (UK)

"Doctors in Glasgow have injected stem cells into the brain of a stroke patient in an effort to find a new treatment for the condition. The elderly man is the first person in the world to receive this treatment - the start of a regulated trial at Southern General Hospital. He was given very low doses over the weekend and has since been discharged - and his doctors say he is doing well. Critics object as brain cells from foetuses were used to create the cells. The patient received a very low dose of stem cells in an initial trial to assess the safety of the procedure. Over the next year, up to 12 more patients will be given progressively higher doses - again primarily to assess safety - but doctors will be looking closely to see if the stem cells have begun to repair their brains and if their condition has improved" - BBC

New strategy to fix a broken heart: scaffold supports stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells

"These days people usually don't die from a heart attack. But the damage to heart muscle is irreversible, and most patients eventually succumb to congestive heart failure, the most common cause of death in developed countries. Stem cells now offer hope for achieving what the body can't do: mending broken hearts. Engineers and physicians at the University of Washington have built a scaffold that supports the growth and integration of stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells. A description of the scaffold, which supports the growth of cardiac cells in the lab and encourages blood vessel growth in living animals, is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"

New source of stem cells form heart muscle cells, repair damage

A new and non-controversial source of stem cells can form heart muscle cells and help repair heart damage, according to results of preliminary lab tests reported in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association. Investigators in Japan used the amniotic membrane - the inner lining of the sac in which an embryo develops - to obtain stem cells called human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal (undifferentiated) cells (hAMCs). 'The amniotic membrane is medical waste that could be collected and used after delivery,' said Shunichiro Miyoshi, M.D., Ph.D., co-author of the study and assistant professor in the cardiology department and Institute for Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics at the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo - Science Centric

'Leftover' veins from heart surgery yield stem cells

Human veins left over from lifesaving bypass surgery could be a source of "master" cells to help treat future heart problems, say scientists. A University of Bristol team extracted stem cells from the veins, then used them to stimulate new blood vessel growth in mice, Circulation reports. The researchers say their findings could bring treatments to repair damaged heart muscle one step closer. However, a stem cell expert warned that they remained some years away. Stem cells are attractive to medical researchers because they have the ability to produce many different types of human cell, opening up the possibility of repair or renewal for tissues ravaged by disease or injury - BBC

Healing a broken heart with stem cells? (Canada)

"Some patients with heart muscles seriously affected by coronary heart disease may soon be able to benefit from an innovative treatment. Researchers at the Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), in collaboration with the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital (MRH) are evaluating the safety, feasibility and efficacy of injecting stem cells into the hearts of patients while they are undergoing coronary bypass surgery. These stem cells could improve healing of the heart and its function" - Science Daily

Scientist turns skin cells into heart cell (USA)

A University of Houston scientist says he has developed a stem cell technique that might lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's, diabetes and other diseases. Professor Robert Schwartz, head of the university's Center for Gene Regulation and Molecular Therapeutics, said he devised a method that allows the reprogramming of ordinary human skin cells into heart cells that are similar to embryonic stem cells. Schwartz and his colleagues said the cells could be implanted and grown into fully developed beating heart cells, reversing the damage caused by previous heart attacks. The new cells would replace the damaged cardiac tissue that weakens the heart's ability to pump, develops into scar tissue and causes arrhythmias. The researcher said early clinical trials using reprogrammed cells on actual heart patients could begin within one or two years - UPI