http://azstarnet.com/news/science/health-med-fit/article_53e56b3f-571c-509d-8817-2ed6c6e13254.html

A Tucson cardiologist is part of a national trial that's testing whether adult human stem cells can help repair the hearts of people who have just suffered heart attacks.

If the therapy works, it could be revolutionary in promoting tissue regeneration and preventing the formation of scar tissue in heart-attack patients, said Dr. M. Reza Movahed, an interventional cardiologist at the University of Arizona's Sarver Heart Center.

Ideally, the mesenchymal-stem-cell therapy would be used on patients immediately after they suffer heart attacks. Mesenchymal stem cells - also known as skeletal stem cells - are found in adult bone marrow and can generate bone, cartilage, fat, cells that support the formation of blood, and fibrous connective tissue.

"This is a completely new way of treating acute myocardial infarction (heart attack)," Movahed said. "We treat arterial blockages, but this could be a way of preventing cell damage after the event with a result of longer survival and better quality of life."

The Sarver Heart Center is still looking for participants to test the stem cell therapy. The only limiting factor for who can participate in the local trial is timing. Participants must join the study within one week of suffering a heart attack.

Some participants will get a placebo, while others will get a 40-minute intravenous infusion of more than 200 million mesenchymal stem cells from adult bone-marrow donors. The study would be in conjunction with the patient's normal post-heart-attack care.

Both before and after the infusion, doctors will perform magnetic resonance imaging to determine the effectiveness of the therapy. They will follow the patients for two years.

It's the first such study in the Tucson area.

What researchers believe is a key component in the stem cell therapy called Prochymal is that it may reduce inflammation, which in turn would promote better healing. Prochymal, developed by the Maryland-based Osiris Therapeutics, is a formulation of mesenchymal stem cells from adult donors.

Human stem cells from bone marrow have been successfully used to treat cell damage in other conditions, including Crohn's disease.

"Cardiologists today have limited abilities to reverse cardiac deterioration following a severe heart attack," Movahed said. "If mesenchymal cells can effectively prevent or repair heart muscle damage, there is potential to meaningfully reduce long-term complications such as heart failure."

More than half a million Americans will have their first heart attack this year. The American Heart Association says that within six years of a recognized heart attack, 18 percent of men and 35 percent of women will have a repeat heart attack.

When a heart attack occurs, it can significantly weaken heart muscle, limiting its ability to pump blood throughout the body. Movahed will study the stem cell therapy's ability to improve heart function, limit scar formation and preserve functional heart tissue after a patient's first heart attack.

In initial phases of testing the therapy on 53 patients, no adverse effects have been reported from the stem cell infusions, researchers say. Results from the first phase were published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Cardiology.

Researchers in the first phase also found improved heart function and a reduction in irregular heartbeats among patients who had received the stem cells.

About 220 patients at 40 centers nationwide will participate in the study, Movahed said, and half of them will receive a placebo. Two Arizona trials are taking place - one in Tucson and one in Chandler, he said. Movahed wants to enroll 10 patients locally.

To join in study

Anyone who wants to be part of the post-heart-attack adult mesenchymal-stem-cell therapy trial can call the Sarver Heart Center at 626-5431 or 626-8711.

Participants must be between the ages of 21 and 85. Timing is important - to be eligible, they must have suffered their first heart attack within seven days of receiving the stem-cell therapy.

"This is a completely new way of treating acute myocardial infarction." The result could be "longer survival and better quality of life."

June 1, 2010 (Arizona Daily Star)