New Heart Stem Cell Therapy Trial Starts

Fight Aging!

Do you want to live a longer life in good health? Simple practices can make some difference, such as exercise or calorie restriction. But over the long haul all that really matters is progress in medicine: building new classes of therapy to repair and reverse the known root causes of aging. The sooner these treatments arrive, the more lives will be saved. Find out how to help »

EurekAlert reports that a new study on the use of adult stem cells to repair heart damage is underway in the US. "Previous research in animals showed that when adult stem cells were injected directly into the heart muscle, heart function was restored to its original condition within two months. [Last November] the Hopkins team showed, again in animal studies, that more than 75 percent of dead scar tissue disappeared after therapy, which produced mostly healthy, normal-looking heart tissue and left only a small trace of the heart attack. The Phase I study is being conducted at Hopkins, with support from Baltimore-based Osiris Therapeutics, which developed the stem cell product. The study will involve 48 adults who have had their first heart attack within 10 days of enrollment in the trial."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/jhmi-hbh032505.php