Donor stem cells to repair infarcted

hearts
The international research led by Gregorio Maraon Hospital is going to be used in patients who have recently suffered a heart attack

In three years hospitals will have on their shelves stem cell vials, ready to repair the heart of a person who has just suffered a heart attack. This is the most
optimistic forecast Genetrix , the Spanish company that developed the first cell therapy for heart made from donor cells. Treatment has begun to be tested on
patients in a clinical trial who leads the team Francisco Fernndez Avils Hospital Gregorio Maran in Madrid and which also involved other Spanish and
European health centers.

It is not the first time the regenerative power of stem cells try to restore the damage of a heart attack, but the first in which cells belonging from healthy donors
are used.
Large scale production
Genetrix team has identified a type of stem cells in the heart that can regenerate damaged tissue without producing immunological rejection. Thus, therapy
can be prepared in advance and produce large scale drugs. "The process is cheaper and treatment is ready to use without waiting for the time to isolate and
prepare cells," said Cristina Garmendia, president of Genetrix.
Experiments in animals have been quite good, overall improvement in pumping capacity after myocardial damage. Early results indicate that the therapy is safe
and does not generate any rejection. It has been proven how cells, once injected, are attracted by the heart to the damaged area and then discarded. Now the next
step is to demonstrate its efficacy in 55 patients.
Preventive therapy
Infarct kills myocardial heart tissue and leads to a depletion of the heart pump. For the heart each time it is harder to pump blood and occurs a heart attack, a
disease that kills more in the world than many cancers, recalled Fernndez Avils. The stem cell treatment would be a preventive therapy for heart attack. "We
want to see if it is able to limit the damage suffered after infarction and generate new tissue, "explained cardiologist Fernndez Avils.
The administration of the donor stem cells is performed in a very simple way through a catheterism depositing directly into the damaged area. The treatment
begins seven days after the heart attack, when the patient is stable. At that time the cardiac tissue has begun to die, but the heart still preserves its
structure."Experience tells us that chronic ill who have suffered a heart attack while not benefit from treatment. The time window to be useful is between the fifth
and tenth day after infarction, "said the head of service of Cardiology Gregorio Maran.
Donor cells are obtained from heart tissue discarded after surgery, then in laboratory are expanded to the required dose of 35 million cells per patient. Each dose is
bioequivalent, ie each vial contains the same quality and number of stem cells.
It's not going to be an expensive medicine
After several years of research and If all goes well and deadlines are met, hospital pharmacies may have this revolutionary treatment in three years. "In 2018 it
should be ready for use" explained Cristina Garmendia who hopes that "there will be an expensive drug."

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Publicado 31st January 2015 por Jorge Garca