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Bone Marrow Cells Repair Heart
Science Daily is reporting that Toronto researchers have discovered a method to utilize bone marrow cells in the repair of a damaged heart after a heart attack. From the article: "While it has long been known that bone marrow cells have the ability to clear the dead tissue after a heart attack, what has not been known until now is the critically important role of bone marrow adult stem cells in repairing a damaged heart, restoring its function and enhancing the growth of new blood vessels."
research revolving exclusively around adult (stem) cells
I had the opportunity to sit into a session of the cardiology department at a large hospital here in Costa Rica, where the attendings were planning to do this kind of research in humans. Since I was only rotating through for a month as an intern, I never found out if they actually got the project started or not. Probably not. This was about 2 years ago and I haven't seen anything published.
Still it was interesting stuff, the haematologist who was visiting us went into a lot of detail. One of the problems they've had with the mice, apparently, is that these stem cells regenerate TOO MUCH myocardium (heart muscle). Apparently there were instances where heart muscle would colonize the injection sites and start growing outside the heart, in the thoracic cavity - tumour style.
One thing I will remember forever from this meeting was the department head, when she expressed surprise at the fact that yes, the patients DO have to be told what we're trying to do to them and yes, they DO have to give permission FIRST.
Anyway this research is promising but it's a long way from being used in humans routinely, so it's still a good idea to quit smoking...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
My wife worked in a hospital (children's ICU to be specific) for about 18 months and routinely had cases where she had to tell the parents "if you refuse blood products for your child, his/her chances for survival are less than half what they are if you accept them." And many, many times, the parents still refused for religious reasons.
These are the people who will still say "no" even when it's their own mortality in question.
Of course, since this research used adult stem cells, it would be totally legit in the United States. So, the real question is how many lives or cures are lost chasing the holy grail of fetal stem cell cures when to date all of the research, world-wide, points to adult stem cells holding the best promise.
The debate in the U.S. isn't even about fetal vs adult stem cells. It's about who pays for it. The U.S. government hasn't banned fetal stem cell research. It just won't pay for it. If the promise is so good, where are the venture capitalists? They aren't to be found, which is why the fetal stem cell researchers want government funding. The reason the venture capitalists aren't to be found is because they are pouring money into adult stem cell research, not for moral reasons, but because the science shows it has the highest chance of success and therefore the lowest financial risk.
This Canadian finding is just one more confirmation of what the business people already know. The real question is why doesn't the main stream media in the U.S. run with this story?
You can refuse immunization, etc. but if it's a life threatening situation the game changes entirely. Many states have this, AFAIK.
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A lot of people who would stand to benefit the most from "stem cells" (older, more medical problems) therefore are also disproportionately likely to have fewer cells with less regenerative capacity. One potential solution is to get cells from other people. A key problem with most adult cells (received from other adults) is the risk of immunologic rejection. This is likely to be much less of a problem with embryonic-derived cells, which don't express as many immunologically pertinent proteins. We just don't know what the best cell type will be - yet another reason to study both cell types in parallel.
Regarding other stem cells, bone marrow stem cells are in fact quite active through all of life, as you have this thing called blood. The most rapid cell production is in the small intestine, rather than the skin. I would also say that most of the evident aging of skin is due to the underlying structures, but I guess there are differences as well.
The simplest way to "adapt" a stem cell to your DNA would be attempting a nuclear transfer, but then you would just get the possible issues with Dolly all over again. I think that a rather natural repair should be enough -- a mechanical implant could assist the heart during the period needed. We should also not keep any illusions that fetal development is "fast". Consider the size of your heart versus the size of the heart of a newborn, or the size of the complete child, for that matter. And if we would have to wait for months for a fatal injury to be repaired, some mechanical assistance would obviously be needed anyway during that period. Alternatively, some artificial stimulation, in addition to the bone marrow cleanup, would be needed, but then the natural rates of repair are not that relevant anyway.