In the Forum
Stem Cell Therapy for Heart to Be Tested
Volume: 10 (13/10/2005)
A trial has just been launched at Barts and the London NHS Trust, to determine whether heart disease can be treated using stem cells derived from the patient's own bone marrow.The trial will involve 700 patients and three different forms of stem cell therapy will be tested. The research team, led by Dr. Anthony Mathur, will try to establish whether adult stem cells can repair damaged heart muscle.
300 patients will be included in the first part of the study; they will be patients whose hearts are failing due to heart disease or a previous heart attack. A second part will involve 200 patients, all suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disorder. A third arm will have 200 participants in the study, who have just had a heart attack.
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In part of the patients, stem cells will be extracted from bone marrow in their hip and injected either into the coronary arteries, or directly into the heart. Other patients will be given injections of growth factor drugs, which may cause stem cells to pass from the bone marrow into the blood, without the need for an operation.
The study is being funded by a new charity, the Heart Cells Foundation, set up by Ian Rosenberg, a man who benefited from life-saving stem cell treatment for his heart disease in Germany. "Stem cell therapy has given me years I never thought I would have [...] I set up the Heart Cells Foundation so that others may benefit from this new and exciting science," he says. Dr. Anthony Mathur, lead researcher, says this is one of the largest and most comprehensive trials of its kind.
The researchers believe that stem cell therapy could revolutionize the way heart disease is treated and could change the lives of millions of people around the world.
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