Stem cell therapies may extend the lives of people with heart disease if used as a complement to standard treatments, according to a new review published in The Cochrane Library. Stem cells used in the research were harvested from the patients’ blood or bone marrow and used to repair the damaged heart or blood vessels.

 

The review analyzed data from 1,255 heart patients in 23 randomized clinical trials in which all participants received standard treatment.  Compared to patients who were given standard treatment alone or with a placebo (the control group), those who also received stem cells had the following outcomes after one year or more:

• Improved heart function.
• A lower rate of hospital readmissions (2 percent for the stem cell group, versus 9 percent in the control group).
• Reduced risk for death from heart disease or heart failure  (3 percent for the stem cell group, versus 15 percent for the control group).

 

 “Encouraging Evidence” of Potentially Lifesaving Benefits

 

“This is encouraging evidence that stem cell therapy has benefits for heart disease patients,” Dr. Enca Martin-Rendon, author of the review, editor for the Cochrane Heart Review Group, and based at NHS Blood and Transplant and the University of Oxford, UK, said in a statement.

 

“While not an absolute cure—or a quick fix for a failing heart—using patients’ own stem cells as a therapy is a thrilling concept that could be the future of personalized treatment for heart disease,” the leading killer of Americans, says Jeremy Rich, MD, chair of the Lerner Research Institute’s Dept. of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

 

New treatments, particularly for congestive heart failure, are urgently needed, since some standard medications for congestive heart failure can have serious side effects or even increase the patient’s risk for death, adds Bradley Bale, MD, medical director of the Heart Health Program for Grace Clinic in Lubbock, Texas.

 

“What’s particularly impressive is that this therapy doesn’t appear to have serious side effects,” adds Dr. Bale, coauthor of Beat the Heart Attack Gene.  The review concluded that adverse reactions were rare in the clinical trials analyzed.

 

Dr. Bale emphasizes that the findings are based on small studies and larger trials are crucial to evaluate the effects of this still experimental therapy, which is only available in centers conducting medical research.

 

 

How do stem cells help repair damaged hearts?

 

The procedure involves collecting stem cells from the patients’ own blood or bone marrow and administering the cells by injection to repair damaged areas of the heart and arteries.

 

“Think of it as similar to a group of kids going to college and graduate school until they are trained for specialized professions, such as engineering or surgery,” says Dr. Rich.

 

However, stem cells do much more than turn into heart or blood vessel cells to patch damaged areas, Dr. Rich adds. “There is also evidence that they contain factors that promote angiogenesis [blood vessel growth].”

 

In effect, the cells may help people with narrow, blocked arteries grow their own heart bypasses, explains Dr. Rich. “Think of farmers who live downstream from a dammed river and create a system of little pipes that bring water to irrigate their fields.”

 

In a similar manner, by releasing compounds that causing tiny vessels to sprout, stem cells help improve blood supply in patients with a weak heart that can’t pump properly (in people with congestive heart failure) or clogged vessels (ischemic heart disease).

 

 

A new frontier in personalized medicine?

 

Another benefit of stem cells is that they appear to improve immune system functioning. “After a heart attack, there is a huge amount of inflammation—the immune system’s response to injury,” says Dr. Bale.

 

While there are existing medications that combat inflammation—including statins (cholesterol lowering drugs) and low-dose aspirin—stem cells also help dial down this immune system reaction, potentially reducing damage to heart tissue, adds Dr. Rich.

 

There are several types of stem cells that can be derived from bone marrow or blood, but scientists don’t yet know which type works best against heart disease, according to the review.

 

“We need to find out what's different in the people who aren't responding well to these treatments as it might then be possible to tailor therapies to these patients, so that they work better,” said Dr. Martin-Rendon.

 

 

 

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/study-stem-cells-may-offer-new-hope-heart-patients

 

 

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