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Adult Bone Marrow Stem Cells Treating Heart and Liver Damage

Studies have shown that adult bone marrow cells are universally compatible

By Hilary White

NEW ORLEANS/ DÜSSELDORF, March 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American College of Cardiology's meeting in New Orleans on March 25 was told of a breakthrough in a cardiac treatment developed using stem cells taken from adult volunteers.

Rush University Medical Center participated in a study of Provacel, an intravenous preparation of adult stem cells that has been shown in preclinical animal models to prevent scar formation in the area of the heart after heart attacks. Animal studies have shown that Provacel can return heart function to near normal levels in as few as 2 months.

Patients with first-time acute myocardial infarction were treated in a double blind test that showed that patients receiving Provacel were 75 per cent less likely to experience problems such as arrhythmia compared to those receiving placebo.
 
The treatment is being developed by Baltimore-based Osiris Therapeutics, a company specializing in developing treatments using stem cells from the bone marrow of adult volunteers in order to avoid the ethical problems associated with embryonic stem cells.

Studies have shown that adult bone marrow cells are universally compatible. Similar to Blood Type O, they may be used without tissue type matching for specific patients. Because the cells are in an early stage of development, it is thought that they also do not trigger an immune rejection response when placed in someone else's body.

In related news, researchers at Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany, used adult bone marrow stem cells to regenerate healthy liver tissue, enabling patients to eventually undergo a surgical resection.

A study published in the April issue of the journal Radiology quotes Günther Fürst, M.D., co-author and professor of radiology: “Our study suggests that liver stem cells harvested from the patient’s own bone marrow can further augment and accelerate the liver’s natural capacity to regenerate itself.”

The study involved 13 patients with large central liver malignancies, unable to undergo surgery and compared the use of a portal vein embolization (PVE), a technique currently used to help regenerate liver tissue, with a combination of PVE and an injection of bone marrow stem cells.

Six underwent both PVE and injection of bone marrow stem cells and seven underwent only PVE. The study showed that patients who received the combination treatment had double the liver growth rate and gain in liver volume, compared with those who underwent PVE alone.  

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