Story Highlights
•Most stem cell research targeted at the heart uses adult stem cells
•The FDA regulates adult stem cell techniques that are allowed to go into clinical trials
•Unlike organ transplants, adult stem cells generally can be given to any patient
•Therapies be available in a little over four years, although some say five to 10
-- In a field largely still in its infancy, scientists are making headway toward using stem cells to treat heart ailments.The major focus of stem cell research in cardiology is promoting regeneration of the heart or preventing scar formation, said Jeffrey Karp, who runs a stem cell biology lab at Harvard University.
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So far, researchers have not found side effects from this method, Losordo said. However, because it is an invasive surgical procedure in which stem cells are delivered through a catheter, there is a risk of perforation of about 1 percent, he said. There is also a small risk of blood clotting from the drug, GCSF, which mobilizes stem cells.
The challenge for translating this method to humans would be that, while each mouse needed only a few million stem cells, each human patient would need close to a billion stem cells for the therapy -- which would be far too expensive and logistically difficult.
More than 90 percent of research on using stem cells to repair the human heart involves adult stem cells, Lee said. That means the controversy about using stem cells derived from human embryos is largely absent from this line of research. For developing treatments that involve transplanting stem cells from adults, there is no ethical concern about the use of embryos, Lee said.
Embryonic stem cells are advantageous in research because they can be grown more easily than adult stem cells in a culture, and are pluripotent, meaning they can develop into any of the various cell types of the body, according to the National Institutes of Health. But it is not yet known whether tissues derived from embryonic stem cells would cause transplant rejection, whereas this does not seem to be a problem with adult stem cells.
Doctors differ on when they might be able to offer stem cell treatment for cardivascular disease but think the therapy looks promising.
For complete article go to:http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/14/heart.stem.cells/index.html
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