Stem cells could repair heart attack damage

Monday, Apr 26 2010 9PM Stem cells could repair heart attack damage
By Paul Sims
Last updated at 8:30 AM on 26th April 2010
Comments (11) Add to My Stories The lives of heart attack patients could be saved or extended after scientists discovered how blood vessels could be repaired using stem cells.
They have devised a way of harvesting the cells and stimulating the growth of new arteries.
The breakthrough offers hope to the 28,000 patients who need bypass surgery every year as well as thousands of other patients with heart problems.

Emergency: Heart and circulatory problems account for 200,000 - a third - of all deaths in the UK each year
A heart attack occurs when the coronary artery taking blood to the heart's muscles becomes blocked or damaged.
It is hoped that injections of stem cells could one day be used to repair the arteries, both independently and to complement the work done in bypass surgery.

Scientists at Bristol University used blood vessels left over from bypass operations to produce the stem cells.
During a bypass a section of blood vessel from a patient's leg is cut out and grafted on to a diseased coronary artery. It is then used to divert blood around a blockage or narrow section to restore blood supply.
'The crucial point is that surgeons always cut out a longer piece of vein than they need, so there is always a leftover piece,' said Professor Paolo Madeddu, who led the research.
They wanted to see if they could obtain adult stem cells from those leftovers and found, much to their surprise, that they could extract sizable amounts.
'We got a few thousand stem cells,' added Professor Madeddu. 'That is not nearly enough for treatments.
'However, it provided us with a source from which we could get those cells to proliferate.

'We seeded the stem cells in special plates and were able to grow them until we got samples of 50million to 60million cells - which was enough to use as treatments.'
Subsequent tests on mice found that these cells were able to stimulate new blood vessel growth.

As a result the team from Bristol University, whose research was published in the journal Circulation, has launched an experiment to show that the cells could now help human patients recover from heart attacks.
'This very encouraging and important advance brings the possibility of cell therapy for damaged hearts one step closer,' said Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation.
'And if the chemical messages produced by the cells can be identified, it is possible that drugs could also be developed to achieve the same end.'
The discovery comes after scientists from the Royal Free Hospital in North-West London revealed they had created an artificial artery that could help those bypass patients who cannot provide a suitable vein.
The clot-busting blood vessel - which resembles a short piece of spaghetti in shape and in its flexibility - will be tried out on heart disease patients this year.
Tests on sheep show the man-made arteries function well for at least two years.
Heart disease is Britain's biggest killer, with heart and circulatory problems accounting for 200,000 - a third - of all deaths each year. Someone has a heart attack every six minutes, with one in three dying before they reach a hospital.
Stem cells are immature cells that can be programmed to function in different ways. Those harvested from early-stage human embryos can potentially become any kind of tissue in the body - from bones to brains.
Stem cells could be used to repair injuries or even to cure degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.


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