Study Showing Bone Marrow Stem Cell Therapy Fails To Repair Heart Damage
Related News: Heart / Cardio NewsContradicting several of the articles we have dug up here ... researchers in Germany in a new study seem to indicate no measurable benefit to stem cell derived from bone marrow injections don't appear to provide significant benefit. Now I am not sure how to take this .. as this is one of the few studies out there that show this.
However, this new study from Technische Universitat in Munich which focused on the experimental therapy of using the body's bone marrow stem cells to repair damage done to cardiac tissue and blood vessels did not appear to work.
This latest study focused specifically on a protein called granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. This protein triggers the body's bone marrow stem cells.
Researchers stated that there had been evidence in the past that stem cells could contribute to regeneration of cardiac tissue and the development of new blood vessels following a heart attack.
However, in this recent study which involved 114 heart attack victims found that the stem cell stimulating substance had "no influence" on the size of the area of damage to the heart. Nor did it make any noticable difference in how well the heart pumped or on preventing blood vessels from narrowing further.
Several articles cover this:
Reuters - Stem cells fail to help heart attack damage (login)
and New York Times - Setback for a Novel Heart-Attack Treatment
Posted on March 2, 2006 01:00 AM