New Treatment - Heart Failure-Heart's Own Stem Cells Offer
Hope
Heart's Own Stem Cells Offer Hope for New Treatment of
Heart Failure
Aug. 15, 2013 — Researchers at
King's College London have for the first time highlighted the natural
regenerative capacity of a group of stem cells that reside in the heart. This
new study shows that these cells are responsible for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue damaged
by a heart attack which leads to heart failure.
The study, published today in the
journal Cell, shows that if the stem cells are eliminated, the heart is unable to repair after damage.
If the cardiac stem cells are replaced the heart repairs itself, leading to
complete cellular, anatomical and functional heart recovery, with the heart
returning to normal and pumping at a regular rate.
Also, if the cardiac stem cells are
removed and re-injected,
they naturally 'home' to and repair
the damaged heart, a discovery that could lead to less-invasive treatments
and even early prevention
of heart failure in the future.
The study, funded by the European
Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), set out to establish the role of
cardiac stem cells (eCSCs) by first removing the cells from the hearts of
rodents with heart failure. This stopped regeneration and recovery of the
heart, demonstrating the intrinsic regenerative capacity of these cells for
repairing the heart in response to heart failure.
Heart failure -- when the heart is
unable to pump blood around the body adequately -- affects more than 750,000
people in the UK, causing breathlessness and impeding daily activities. Current
treatments are aimed at treating the underlying causes, such as coronary heart
disease, heart attack and blood pressure through lifestyle changes, medicines
and in severe cases, surgery. These treatments are sometimes successful in preventing or delaying
heart failure. However, once heart failure develops the only curative treatment is heart transplantation.
By revealing this robust homing
mechanism, which causes cardiac stem cells to home to and repair the heart's damaged
muscle, the findings could lead to less invasive treatments or even
preventative measures aimed at maintaining or increasing the activity of the
heart's own cardiac stem cells.
Dr Georgina Ellison, the first
author of the paper and Professor Bernardo Nadal-Ginard, the study's
corresponding author, both from the Centre of Human & Aerospace
Physiological Sciences and the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
at King's, said: 'In a healthy heart the quantity of cardiac stem cells is sufficient
to repair muscle tissue in the heart. However, in damaged hearts many of these
cells cannot multiply or produce new muscle tissue. In these cases it could be
possible to replace the
damaged cardiac stem cells or add new ones by growing them in the
laboratory and administering
them intravenously.'
Dr Ellison added: 'Understanding the
role and potential of cardiac stems cells could pave the way for a variety of new ways to prevent
and treat heart failure. These new approaches involve maintaining or increasing the activity of
cardiac stem cells so that muscle tissue in the heart can be renewed
with new heart cells, replacing old cells or those damaged by wear and tear.
'The cardiac stem cells naturally
home to the heart because the heart is their home -- they know to go there.
Current practices involve major operations such as injection through the
heart's muscle wall (intramyocardial) or coronary vessels (intracoronary). The
homing mechanism shown by our research could lead to a less invasive treatment
whereby cardiac stem cells are injected through a vein in the skin
(intravenously).'
Professor Nadal-Ginard added:
'Although an early study, our findings are very promising. Next steps include
clinical trials, due to start early 2014, aimed at assessing the effectiveness
of cardiac stem cells for preventing and treating heart failure in humans.'
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