A short article reprinted at InfoAging reports on the race to deploy adult stem cell therapies for heart disease. "Once a mere fantasy, the idea of growing new, healthy heart tissue to replace damaged or diseased heart muscle is inching closer to reality. ... One approach uses adult stem cells found in bone marrow or the bloodstream. Injected or infused into damaged heart tissue, these stem cells can take up residence and grow into healthy heart muscle. An alternative is to use immature muscle cells taken from the thigh; when injected into the heart, they adopt the characteristics of heart cells. ... a particularly innovative self-repair strategy involves coaxing some heart cells to regress to a stem-cell-like state and then stimulating them to produce young, healthy heart cells."

Link: http://www.infoaging.org/news_article.html?SMContentIndex=0&SMContentSet=0