“Latest Stem Cells News”

On Sept. 14, 46-year-old Hatem Faraj suffered a major heart attack while watching Monday Night Football on TV.
Tuesday, the Wesley Chapel man joined the cutting edge of heart disease research, becoming the area’s first participant in a study to see if a patient’s own stem cells can regenerate his damaged heart muscle.

The procedure he had at Pepin Heart at University Community Hospital in Tampa is part of a University of Florida research program. Its aim is improving chances of long-term survival and reducing heart transplants. Using stem cells to regenerate heart tissue has been studied for several years in animals and humans, producing mixed results. Still, the therapy is considered promising for millions of Americans with heart failure (…)

The most appealing part of the study is that a patient’s own stem cells are used, he said. “It won’t hurt you to participate,” Matar said. “I would encourage physicians to refer their patients.”

Researchers are looking at many questions surrounding the therapy: how many stem cells to infuse into the heart, how long it will take to see results, how soon after a cardiac event should treatment be delivered, how much tissue regeneration can patients expect. The long-term effects of such therapy are unknown.

The University of Florida is one of five U.S. medical centers involved in three federally funded stem cell regeneration clinical trials. Bay area hospitals with cardiac care programs were asked help enroll the almost 300 patients needed for the 2 1/2-year-long study.

“It will be a challenge,” says Dr. Charles Lambert, medical director at Pepin, the first satellite center in Florida to recruit a study participant. Lambert says that’s because patients who have just survived a heart attack must undergo two medical procedures: one to harvest bone marrow in order to get the stem cells, and another to infuse cells in the heart.

Two-thirds of participants will be infused with stem cells; the others will receive a cell-free solution. Patients — including Faraj — won’t know if they actually receive stem cells, standard protocol in medical research (…)

Because it was the first procedure at a satellite center, a UF medical team traveled to Tampa to assist with the bone marrow harvest earlier Tuesday and drive the cells back to Gainesville. There, scientists isolated the heart and vascular stem cells, extracted and purified them and handed them off to a second medical team. They drove the little bag of cells, about six tablespoons worth, back to Tampa.

Faraj was only mildly sedated during the hourlong infusion, in which the stem cells (or a cell-free solution) were sent to his heart through a catheter inserted in the groin and threaded through the femoral artery to his heart. He was smiling and talking with hospital staff immediately afterward (…)

from http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/study-hopes-to-use-patients-own-stem-cells-to-mend-broken-hearts/1041081

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It has long been thought that damage to the heart is irreversible, but new research is challenging that assumption.
Investigators from Children’s Hospital Boston were able to reverse heart damage in mice by stimulating the growth of new heart muscle cells.

They did this by injecting the mice with the growth factor neuregulin1, which is a key player in heart cell growth.
Until recently, most experts believed that the heart muscle could not repair itself, in part because the cells responsible for its development stop proliferating after birth.

But recent studies have shown that these heart muscle cells, known as cardiomyocytes, do have a limited ability to replace themselves.
The hope is that neuroregulin1 can one day be used to ramp up this process in humans and help heal damaged hearts, as it seems to do in mice, study co-author Bernhard Kuhn, MD, tells WebMD.

“Contemporary heart failure treatment is directed at making the remaining cardiomyocytes function better, and improvements in outcomes are harder and harder to achieve because these therapies have become so good,” he says. “But despite this, heart failure is still a fatal disease. Therapies that replace lost heart muscle cells have the potential to greatly advance the field.”
Injections Reversed Heart Attack Damage

Many other research teams are looking for ways to repair damaged heart muscle, but most of these efforts have focused on coaxing stem cells to become new heart cells.

The research by Kuhn and colleagues shows that stimulating heart muscle cells to proliferate in other ways may prove to be a viable alternative to stem cells, Duke cardiologist Richard C. Becker, MD, tells WebMD.
Becker, who is a spokesman for the American Heart Association, called the new research compelling.

“This is something that I suspect people in the field of cardiology will be very excited about, and I suspect this interest will stimulate additional research,” he says.
The mice in the study were treated with daily injections of neuregulin1 starting a week after experiencing laboratory-induced heart attacks.

Twelve weeks later, they showed evidence of better heart function, reductions in heart muscle scar size, and an increase in heart muscle cells, Kuhn says.
And unlike untreated controls, the treated mice showed no evidence of heart failure.

“Most of the [heart attack] related cell death had already occurred,” he says. “When we began the injections we saw replacement of a significant number of cardiomyocytes resulting in significant structural and functional improvements in the heart muscle.”
Researchers Studying Other Compounds
Neuregulin1 is not the first substance identified by the authors that promotes heart muscle cell growth.

In 2007, they reported that the protein periostin, found in the developing fetal heart and injured skeletal muscles, also induced cardiomyocyte production and improved heart function in rats.
Periostin cannot be injected, so the researchers developed patches infused with the compound, which were placed directly on the damaged area of the heart.

Kuhn says the two therapies may one day prove useful in the treatment of heart attack patients.
“During initial treatment patients might receive neuregulin injections, and once they are stable and out of the ICU they might be taken to the cath lab for a periostin patch,” Kuhn says.

But before that happens, the two treatments must be proven safe and effective in large animal and human studies.
The researchers recently completed a study of periostin in pigs, but the findings have not been published.

from webMD

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James Eilert went on a 20-mile bike ride the other day! Why is that amazing?

Because18 months ago, the thought of getting on a bicycle was too much exertion for the Michigan native. In 2006, at the young age of 34, James suffered a major heart attack, which damaged his heart muscle.

The heart damage left James fatigued, exhausted and short of breath. It was increasingly difficult to meet the demands of his job as an automotive engineer. He was gasping for breath and sweating all the time. His ejection fraction (EF) had sunk to 20-25%. Feeling depressed, James had given up hope of ever improving his quality of life. However, hope was restored when James found Vescell ™ adult stem cell therapy on the internet.

“I was in Class III congestive heart failure and had given up, but the amount of research and patient success stories I found on Vescell™ gave me new hope. I contacted them immediately,” James said.

On November 14, 2007, James flew to Bangkok, Thailand and received 41 million of his own stem cells via catheter to heal his ailing heart muscle. James exclaimed, “I didn’t feel a thing, it was just a simple catheterization!”

James raved about his experience and the care he received in Bangkok, “I have never been so well cared for in all my years going in and out of multiple hospitals for congestive heart failure. The doctors really listened to me and gave me confidence that they were my partners in improving my heart.”

After the treatment, James was thrilled with the results of the Vescell ™. “I had an echocardiogram only 2 weeks after my stem cell therapy and my completely dead apex was beating again. I was shocked and ecstatic at the same time.”

Since then, James has continued to improve and 18 months after treatment, he says, “I can do anything, the sky is the limit. I am now in Class I heart failure. My ejection fraction is at 50% and my doctors have lifted all restrictions.”

Today, James devotes his spare time to help other patients, as a patient volunteer, “I shudder to think how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t found the Vescell website. I was lucky. I want others to get the same second chance that I had.”

James is one of more than 500 patients who have had the Vescell ™ treatment. VesCell™ harnesses and enhances stem cells’ unique abilities, enabling the patient’s own body to heal itself.

from TransWorldNews

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Concha Herrera Arroyo, from El Pais

The Cardiology department and the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital Reina Sofia are carrying out clinical tests with patients who have suffered from a severe heart attack. With the implantation of the patient’s stem cells, the heart regenerates thus improving its wall motion, that is, its cardiac performance.

Indeed for the last four years, the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital, led by haematologist Dr. Concha Herrera, has been implementing a therapy program with adult stem cells in patients with heart-related problems. However, this therapy is not a service the hospital offers yet. More specifically, at the end of 2007 the hospital ended a clinical test with patients who had suffered a severe myocardial infarction, that is, an obstruction of one of the main coronary arteries that stops the blood pump to the heart.

The test consisted of treating 30 people split into three groups of ten each at random. The first group was the control group, where patients received standard treatment for acute myocardial infarction; the second group was treated with stem cells directly implanted into the coronary artery affected using a catheterization; the third group was treated with a medicine called G-CSF, which makes cells move from the marrow to the blood, so that they get to the heart in a natural way, without having to do so through a catheter.

At the end of the test, the results revealed that the two groups treated without cells improved slightly, whereas patients transplanted with stem cells through the coronary arteries (vessels which bring the blood to the Herat muscle) did improve their ventricular function much more. This was interpreted as a significant decrease of the cardiac failure symptoms such as pain, fatigue and breathlessness when making small efforts.

Moreover, with this process it is possible to prevent some acute arrhythmias (change or irregularity in the rhythm of the heartbeat), which in many cases could result in the patient’s death. ‘However, it does not prevent a future heart attack’, Dr. Herrera assures.

In short, the stem cells transplanted from the marrow into the heart muscle have a double function: on the one hand they regenerate the heart cells, the cardiomiocites. In addition to this, they segregate a series of proangiogenic factors that produce blood vessels (angiogenesis) and can also produce the recruitment of stem cells that are in the myocardium itself.

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In a bold move that is sure to shake the foundations of the United States FDA, a group of American doctors have published a set of strict clinical guidelines that will allow US doctors to treat patients with their own Adult Stem Cells.

Your Own Stem Cells Are Not a Drug

This move by the American Stem Cell Therapy Association comes in response to the FDA’s position that a person’s own stem cells should be classified as a drug, thus subject to the exact same set of standards that a drug like Viagra or Lipitor or Vioxx would be examined under.

However, these US doctors are correct in believing that adult stem cell therapy with the patient’s own cells is governed under the practice of medicine, not under drug production guidelines.

From the stem cell press release:

Adult stem cells can be processed with the same techniques commonly used in existing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) labs. “Like the human cells and tissue used in IVF, adult stem cells are not drugs,” stated Christopher J. Centeno, M.D., a physician who worked on the guidelines and whose medical practice includes the use of the Regenexx procedure, which uses patients own stem cells to treat orthopedic conditions.

Slowing Progress, Costing Lives- the US FDA at Work

“Making the stem cells in your own body a drug won’t make them safer, will dramatically reduce availability of treatment, and will increase bureaucratic red tape.” stated Dr. Centeno.

Dr. Centeno is absolutely right.  These are your own cells and having the FDA regulate your own body won’t be helping anybody as there is no downside to having your own stem cells implanted.

Let me repeat that- there is no downside to having your own Adult Stem Cells implanted. Either they will help you or they won’t (no effect).  This has been proven in thousands of studies.

Your own stem cells should be an extra tool your doctor should be able to use to help you.  No, adult stem cells are not a cure yet, but they do help in the majority of cases.

Again, your own stem cells should be a tool in your responsible doctor’s tool kit that may or may not be able to help, but should be made available to you as there is no downside.  What does the patient have to lose?  A man in end stage heart failure about to die- give him his own stem cells, they should help. He may not be beating Husain Bolt in a 100 meter sprint, but should improve.  A spinal cord injury victim, give him his own stem cells, they should help.  He/she may not be walking, but it could be beneficial in some ways.  A diabetic, give him his own stem cells- they should improve his insulin levels. And if your own stem cells don’t help- there is no harm done- thousands of studies have proven this.

And what if your own Adult Stem Cells work only 5% of the time for a particular lethal disease and your doctor wants to try to save your life? Hey! It will save 5% more than zero. With no downside, why not? And if the FDA has its way, that 5% will be 0. It is up to all of us to make a stand. And these clinical guidelines are the first step.

If you are a patient of any kind and reading this, I urge you to go to Safe Stem Cells Now, a patient run organization demanding the use of their own stem cells.

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President Obama lifted restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem cell research this morning and issued a presidential memorandum aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence.

Obama took care to emphasize that the order would not “open the door” to allow human cloning, which he said is “dangerous, profoundly wrong and has no place in our society, or any society.” But the president said stem cell research has enormous potential to further understanding and treatment of many devastating diseases and conditions. America, he said, should play a leading role in exploring the stem-cell research frontier.

David Scadden, M.D., co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Insitute, was online Monday, March 9, at 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss what today’s executive order means to the scientific, medical and research communities, and ultimately to the individual…

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