STEM CELLS HEAL HEARTS
It's always a hot topic -- the potential of stem cells to heal what ails us. Well, stem cells are in the spotlight again to see if they can repair damage after a heart attack. It could be great news for the more than one-million Americans who suffer a heart attack every year.
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The pulpit is Eugene Carter's home away from home.
Rev. Eugene Carter
"I start the day being thankful for the day and realizing it is a blessing."
Last February, Eugene needed his faith when he had a heart attack.
Rev. Eugene Carter
"I believe that anything that comes my way is there for a reason."
So when doctors asked him to be in a study on stem cells just days after his heart attack, he said yes.
Gary Schaer, MD
Interventional Cardiologist
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, IL
"The promise of stem cells is the promise that these cells could be given to grow new parts of the body that have been damaged."
Doctor Gary Schaer and colleagues are giving heart attack patients stem cells from a healthy adult donor. The cells are delivered through an IV. Once infused, they zero in on damaged heart muscle and repair it.
Stem cells have shown great promise in fixing damaged heart muscle in animals. Here's a slice of a pig's heart after a heart attack. Here's one treated with stem cells.
Gary Schaer, MD
"I have been doing this for a little more than 20 years, and this is the most exciting new development in a very exciting field."
Studies have shown using a patient's own stem cells can treat heart failure. Doctor Schaer says using a donor's stem cells to treat heart attacks is a new frontier.
Eugene feels lucky to be part of the study.
Rev. Eugene Carter
"What an opportunity to do something positive."
And he says if the treatment helps, he'll have even more to preach about.
The benefits of donor stem cells are they're available right away, and one donor's cells can be multiplied into millions of stem cells to treat an endless number of people. In this study, the same donor's cells are treating all 52 patients at 16 sites across the country.
BACKGROUND: According to the National Institutes of Health, coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death for men and women in the United States. It's caused by a narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart and often results in a heart attack. About 1.1 million people have a heart attack every year in the United States. Nearly half of those are fatal -- with death occurring within one hour of the start of symptoms before the person ever reaches the hospital. Pre-existing heart diseases can increase the risk of having a heart attack. Your age also ups the ante. Heart attack risk increases in men after age 45 and after age 55 in women. The risk factors for a heart attack that are within your control include smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, being overweight, a sedentary lifestyle and diabetes that is not well-controlled.
FIXING THE DAMAGE: Currently, there is no way to fix the heart muscle once it's been damaged by a heart attack. Gary Schaer, M.D., from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, says, "What happens in a heart attack is that part of the heart muscle dies and essentially becomes a scar and none of the muscles supplied by that artery function anymore." The earlier a heart attack is treated, the less damage will result. But time is of the essence. Many times, patients do not present to the hospital right away. The longer they wait, the more damage is being done to their heart muscle. Dr. Schaer says, "Once it is dead, it does not come back. The heart muscle doesn't have any great ability to repair itself once it has been damaged." But new science may soon change that.
RE-GROWING HEARTS: Researchers at about 16 sites across the United States are involved in a study on adult donor stem cells to repair the heart muscle after a heart attack. Stem cells are premature cells that can grow and develop into a variety of different tissues. In the study, patients are infused (through a simple IV line) with either adult donor stem cells or a placebo. They are infused between three and nine days after they have a heart attack. Dr. Schaer says, "The theory behind using stem cells to help patients that have had a recent heart attack is very simply to try to repair the part of the heart muscle that has been damaged by that loss of blood supply." When the stem cells are infused, they hone in on the damaged area of the heart muscle and go to work repairing it.
A PROMISING FUTURE: Earlier studies have shown promise for stem cells to treat heart failure by improving the heart's pumping ability. Those studies have used the patient's own stem cells, which were extracted from their hip bones. Dr. Schaer says the use for donor stem cells to treat heart attacks is the next frontier. The benefits of using donor cells are many. One, they are ready right away, and there is no need to perform any procedure on the patient to extract his/her own stem cells. Two, a single donor could supply enough stem cells to help an endless number of people. The donor's cells are taken and multiplied in a lab where they are then frozen for future use. Three, the donor stem cells come from a young, healthy adult. Dr. Schaer says, "These healthy young stem cells may be more efficacious. They may be more able to ... help restore the heart muscle pumping function [than the patient's own stem cells]." Dr. Schaer says there is no risk of rejection with donor stem cells as the cells are too premature to trigger rejection. He says, "The promise of stem cells is the promise that these cells could be given to grow new parts of the body that have been damaged." At this time, results of the study are not known as the study is still ongoing. Recruitment for the study is nearly complete.
Mary Ann Schultz
Rush University Medical Center
1700 W. Van Buren Ste. 250
Chicago, IL 60612
Mary_ann_Schultz@rush.edu
Copyright © 2006 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
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