Stem Cell Transplant Repairs Heart

Heart researchers working with a pig model have demonstrated their ability to repair heart attack damage by injecting stem cells taken from another pig's bone marrow directly into the affected area.

Investigators at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA) completed an animal study that is the prelude to human clinical trials. They reported in the August 1, 2005, online edition of the Proceedings of the [U.S.] National Academy of Sciences that they had restored heart function and repaired damaged heart muscle by 50 to 75% by injecting adult mesenchymal stem cells taken from a pig's bone marrow into the damaged heart tissue of a second pig that had experienced myocardial infarction.

Three main findings were obtained from the current study. First, transplanted cells were prepared from an allogeneic donor and were not rejected, a major practical advance for widespread application of this therapy. Second, the cells could be safely injected by using a percutaneous-injection catheter three days after the myocardial infarction. Third, transplantation of the stem cells resulted in long-term engraftment, profound reduction in scar formation, and near-normalization of cardiac function.

"Ultimately, the goal is to develop a widely applicable treatment to repair and reverse the damage done to heart muscle that has been infarcted, or destroyed, after losing its blood supply,” explained senior author Dr. Joshua Hare, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. "There is reason for optimism about these findings, possibly leading to a first-ever cure for heart attack in humans.”




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