Monthly Archives: March 2023

Researchers have tried for decades to use stem cells to restore a damaged heart.

A new study shows they still haven't succeeded, but it offers the first glimmers of hope for heartdisease, whichis blamed for about 1 in 5 deaths in the United States, killingnearly 700,000 people a year.

The trial, by the Texas Heart Institute, showed that a one-time treatment of cells didn't keep heart failurepatients out of the hospital. But it dramatically reduced the risk of stroke or recurrent heart attack for the nearly three years of the study, particularly among people who also had high levels of inflammation.

"At a year, the hearts were pumping stronger," said Dr. Emerson Perin, who led the research.

While he will have to conduct another clinical trial before winning approval for his approach, he has a path forward, Perin said.

"I now have the recipe," he said. "I know who I have to give (the cells) to, how I have to give them and in what dose."

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Stem cells are cellsthat can turn into a variety of other cells.

Every person arises from the combination of an egg and a sperm. Once fused, this combination of cells divides repeatedly, leadingto every other cell in the body, from brain to gut cells.

Early cells with the ability to become every other cell are called "embryonic stem cells."

The human bodyalso produces stem cells later in development that are less versatile than embryonic ones, but still may be useful in medicine. So-called mesenchymal stem cells can turn intobone, cartilage, muscle and fat.

In this study, researchers used precursor mesenchymal stem cells taken from three young, adult donorswithout heart disease. The goal was to alter the environment around the patients'hearts to decrease inflammation.

In the study of 565 heart failure patients from 52 treatment centers, half were given high doses of these mesenchymal stem cells and the other half a sham procedure.

The study was designed to measure hospitalization and time until death, neither of which were statistically improved by the treatment.

But those who received the cells had a 58% reduced risk of heart attack or stroke, and among patients with high levels of inflammation the risk reduction rose to 75%.

These patients were already heavily treated with medication, so the improvements came on top of those therapies.

For years, Perin said, he's been seeing patients with heart failure get better when he gave them mesenchymal stem cells.

"Until now we didn't know why," Perin said. "Cell therapy has been this black hole. ... We now have insights into how it works."

Dr. Richard Lee, a stem cell biologist at Harvard University, said he found the study usefulbut thinks this type of stem cell has a long way to go to becomea treatment for heart failure.

Drugs already available to treat heart failure are underused, he said, and doctors shouldn't wait around for newer therapies. "We should be doing better now," Leesaid.

Despite these other therapies, heart failure continues to be a major problem for patients, saidDr. Roberto Bolli, who holds the distinguished chair in cardiology at the Jewish Hospital Heart and Lung Institute in Louisville, Kentucky.

"We can improve the symptoms of these patients, but still, their long-term outcome is not good. They will inexorably get worse and worse over time," said Bolli, who was not involved in the new research.

Also, the new study showed that the treatment was safe. None of the patients in this trial or in others over the years have suffered serious problems after receiving stem cells for heart disease.

This is first large study of stem cell therapy in heart disease to show an improvement for patients, Bolli said."That's very significant."

Four other smaller trialshave also shown promise in heart failure, including one he led, co-authored by Perin.

"I would say cell therapy is a promising treatment for chronic heart failure," Bolli said.

Researchers have been working for decades to get stem cells to benefit heart disease patients.

Dr. Joshua Hare, a cardiologist at the University of Miami who does stem cell research but was not involved in the current study, said he thinks the field would have moved faster if it had been better funded.

He hopes the new finding, though technically a failure, will encourage more investment.

Stem cell clinics, which "steal people's money" for procedures that don't help cardiac patients, havealso created problems for the field, said Dr. Timothy Henry, a cardiologist and director of the Lindner Center at Christ Hospital inCincinnati, Ohio.

Bolli said research has been so slow in partbecause itfocused for 15 years on treating patients after heart attacks, hoping the cells would rebuild a damaged heart when given within a few days. At least 10 trials have shown that doesn't work.

Instead,the new trialand the four smaller ones suggest that stem cells are best at helping patients with long-standingheart failure, by reducing inflammation around the heart, which continues to damage its function.

Bolli said the new findings strongly suggest the need for a follow-up study concentrating on patients who also have inflammation. (Henry, who was on the steering committee for the new study, said he is optimistic thatMesoblast, the Australian company that funded the trial, will go forward with another study.)

"If that trial confirms these results, that will be a major advance in cardiovascular medicine," Bolli said. "We don't know of any other treatment that does that."

Contact Karen Weintraub at kweintraub@usatoday.com.

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

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Heart disease study shows hope for stem cell treatment

Stem cells possess the unique ability to differentiate into many distinct cell types in the body, including brain cells, but they also retain the ability to produce more stem cells, a process termed self-renewal. There are multiple types of stem cell, such as embryonic stem (ES) cells, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and adult or somatic stem cells. While various types of stem cells share similar properties there are differences as well. For example, ES cells and iPS cells are able to differentiate into any type of cell, whereas adult stem cells are more restricted in their potential. The promise of all stem cells for use in future therapies is exciting, but significant technical hurdles remain that will only be overcome through years of intensive research.

NINDS supports a diverse array of research on stem cells, from studies of the basic biology of stem cells in the developing and adult mammalian brain, to studies focusing on nervous system disorders such as ALS or spinal cord injury. Other examples of NINDS funded research include using iPS cells to derive dopamine-producing neurons that might alleviate symptoms in patients with Parkinsons disease, and using ES cells to generate cerebral organoids to model Zika virus infection.

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Focus On Stem Cell Research | National Institute of Neurological ...

What if there was a chance of curing degenerative diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers? Everyone should be in favor of ending the suffering of the thousands of people who have these diseases and their families that have to be brought in by such a curse. These diseases and a surplus more can be cured with the potential results of stem cell research. Embryotic stem cells are undifferentiated cells in the womb. The factor of being undifferentiated is crucial to embryotic, and in disease cures, tissue development. Through each stage of fetal development, the embryo will have its stem cells differentiated into different cells. Examples will include muscle, neural, intestinal, cardiac, liver, and blood cells. Research using these undifferentiated cells requires the destruction of an embryo, making the practice an immoral undertone. Some will argue that the embryos in the womb do not deserve disrespect, based on the idea of not harming any form of life. While the other side, in favor of stem cell research, will overlook such unethicality for the benefit of future cures that could save many other out-of-womb lives. Nations around the world should fund stem cell research due to the possible cures in the future.

Stem cells are our baseline for development in the womb and can build 260 different kinds of cells in the human body. Sadly, this research involves using and destroying embryos and possible lives, to save lives and make them easier. Using embryonic cells can result in negative outcomes, and has been greatly associated with causing brain tumors and cancer. In addition to governmental reinforcements, many limitations, including immune rejection which can cause death and tumor possibility, are factors that convince the public that the research should not be advanced. Others can see this research as playing god. As described by Peter Lachmann, playing god carries with it the proposition that there is knowledge that may be too dangerous for the mankind to know (2). Later in his work, Lachmann digs up an ancient code of conduct still used today, the Hippocratic oath. The Hippocratic oath swears that by your own hands every Ph.D. shall not knowingly cause harm to another life. Reaching back to morals, the scientists and doctors involved are breaking the Hippocratic oath, by tearing apart the fetuses in the womb, whether natural or lab-made.

On the other hand, the scientists who see eye-to-eye with stem cell research are currently restricted by the amount of federal funding and embryonic cells available for research. The reason for this is the fact that everyone sees that any products and medication put forth from this medical boom would be far too expensive. Some scientists worry that if strict regulations of stem cell research continue, private companies may bypass the standards put in place by the National Institute of Health and conduct unregulated research. If the United States wishes to remain a premiere country in biomedical research and maintain order and control of embryonic research being performed, action must be taken to address this issue.

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Barack Obama says that we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly. Governments around the globe have passed legislation to regulate stem cell research. In the United States, laws prohibit the creation of embryos for research purposes. Scientists instead receive leftover embryos from fertility clinics with consent from donors. Most people agree that these guidelines are appropriate. Disagreements surface, however, when political parties debate about how to fund stem cell research. The federal government allocates billions of dollars each year to biomedical research. Legislators have had the unique challenge of encouraging advances in science and medicine while preserving respect for life. U.S. President Bush, for example, limited federal funding to a study of 70 or so hES cell lines back in 2001. While this did slow the destruction of human embryos, many believe the restrictions set back the progress of stem cell research. President Obama overturned Bushs stem cell policy in 2009 to expand the number of stem cell lines available to researchers.

Despite the moral issues, these cells show an overpoweringly higher possibility to heal illness. Embryonic stem cell study contributes drastically to the systematic grasp of stem cells. An imperative factor in stem cell therapy treatments is the ability to use the patients own stem cells to generate the most effective medical therapies. Such therapies will not be redundant to the bodys immune mechanism. New therapies employing adult stem cells like those initiated in bone marrow and teeth are important for medicinal research. Pro research advancement researchers hope that by controlling stem cells in the lab, they can be employed to treat Parkinsons disease, heart disease, diabetes, and some disorders (Hug 114). The main clinical supply is the aborted fetus and unexploited embryos presently housed in frozen stores at IVF facilities. An advanced stem cell line originates from a solitary embryo, rotating into a collection of cells that reproduces nonstop. Even if one cannot point to a precise separating line in human growth when personhood is acquired, it may be debated that every time the transition happens, early pre-implantation period embryos do not encompass the physiological, psychological, expressive, or intellectual characteristics that are associated with a persons identity. It, consequently, follows that if the embryo does not accomplish the principle of personhood, it does not contain any happiness to be confined and thus may be employed instrumentally for the advantage of human beings. The supporters of embryonic stem cell advancement argue about the point that it will assist to alleviate some agonies.

Overall, though the destruction of a life is typically seen to be unethical, the moral status of an embryo in the blastocyst stage is unclear and therefore cannot be equated to the moral status of an adult human being. Also, ethical sources of embryonic stem cells exist that do not take the life of future beings (i.e. unwanted frozen embryos produced via in vitro fertilization, donated egg cells fertilized in a laboratory). For these reasons, in combination with the possibility of reducing suffering for future beings, embryonic stem cell research is ethical under certain circumstances. As long as the stem cells are isolated in a manner that does not harm an embryo with the plan of developing into an adult human, the subsequent research is ethically justified. With this in mind, embryonic stem cell research should receive greater government funding so that continued progress can be made.

The debate over embryonic stem cell research is a scientific, moral, and political issue. Embryonic stem cells, hold important value for scientific researchers in search of cures for untreatable diseases, medicine to regenerate an assortment of tissues, or a better understanding of early human development. As a consequence, if they are stopped, many people will keep on suffering from terrible diseases that could be cured. In fact, the throbbing and damaging consequences might be alleviated by technologies and therapies attained from embryonic stem cell studies.

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