Adult Stem Cells: New Treatment for Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure is the inability of the heart muscles to pump sufficiently. Some causes of this disease are high blood pressure, years of alcohol abuse, coronary artery disease and heart valve disorders. Nearly 5 million people in the United States today are affected by congestive heart failure with 400,000 new cases each year. Heart attacks are one of the major contributors of this condition. Nearly 1.1 million Americans suffer heart attacks each year. Until now, congestive heart failure prognosis has been five years or less. Currently, the only cure for congestive heart failure is a heart transplant. However, many patients do not receive a transplant in time because donors are scarce.

Fortunately, scientists are finding new, less invasive congestive heart failure treatments. These heart therapies have the potential to increase the lifespan and quality of life for those who are coping with this devastating disease. On the horizon is a treatment for congestive heart failure that uses adult stems cells. Researchers at the University of Buffalo have recently demonstrated that they can reverse heart failure using this adult stem cell therapy. What is unique about this procedure?

In clinical trials prior to now, stem cells were delivered directly into the heart muscle. This required major surgery which entailed several risks. Some of which are life threatening. These surgical risks include scar tissue, blockages of small blood vessels, arrhythmia or calcification. Even after putting the patient through this, there was little evidence that the stem cells differentiated or grew into actual heart muscle. In addition, a damaged heart with diseased tissue due to congestive heart failure is not the ideal place in the body to grow healthy cells.

These researchers have discovered that they can inject the stem cells into skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle is one of three major muscle systems in the body. It is the most abundant. Skeletal muscle can withstand a high number of stem cell injections. In addition, the adult stem cells can be injected into areas of the body that are not near the heart. This research has yielded great results thus far. Adult stem cells injected into skeletal muscle has lowered cell death, stimulated tissue regeneration, improved function of the ventricle and decreased the incidences of other factors of heart failure.

The result of these findings by these University of Buffalo researchers has to go through clinical trials. If successful, this will be a major breakthrough in adult stem cell therapy for congestive heart failure.

Sources

http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/scireport/chapter9.asp

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10132

http://ext.sac.edu/faculty_staff/mansfield_patricia/6intro.html

http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec03/ch028/ch028a.html