Researchers from the nation’s (US) largest stem cell study for heart disease affirm the value of using one’s own stem cells to treat heart disease. Aiming to prompt the growth of small blood vessels that make up the microcirculation of the heart muscle that is compromised in severe angina, Douglas W. Losordo, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Illinois, USA), and colleagues injected subjects’ own purified stem cells (CD34+ cells) into their own hearts. As a result, the team improved subjects’ ability to walk, lessened pain, and reduced death. They conclude that: “Autologous CD34 cell therapy was associated with improved exercise tolerance and reduced angina in no-option patients with intractable angina.”
Largest US Stem Cell Study Affirms Value of Using One’s Own Stem Cells to Treat Heart Disease
Douglas W Losordo, Tim Henry, Richard A Schatz, Joon Sup Lee, Marco Costa, Theodore Bass, Gary Schaer, Alan Niederman, Farrell Mendelsohn, Charles Davidson, Ron Waksman, Peter A Soukas, Daniel Simon, Nicolas Chronos, F David Fortuin, Paul P Huang, Neal Weintraub, Alan Yeung, Kenneth Rosenfield, S Chiu Wong, Andrew Taussig, Amish N Rava, Warren Sherman, Dean Kereiakes, Robert K Strumpf, Steven Port, Karen Pieper, Peter X Adams, Robert Harrington. “Autologous CD34+ Cell Therapy for Refractory Angina: 12 Month Results of the Phase II ACT34-CMI Study” (American Heart Association 2009 Annual Meeting Abstract 5638). Circulation, Nov 2009; 120: S1132.