“First-in-humans” trial with cardiopoietic stem cells shows promising results

Therapy with cardiopoietic stem cells has been shown to improve heart health for people suffering from heart failure, a multi-centre clinical trial has shown.The Mayo Clinic say the trial, which was the first application in humans of lineage-guided stem cells for targeted regeneration of a failing organ, will pave the way to the development of next generation regenerative medicine therapies. The trial results are detailed in an article entitled “C-CURE Multicenter Trial: Lineage Specified Bone Marrow Derived Cardiopoietic Mesenchymal Stem Cells For Treatment of Ischemic Cardiomyopathy”, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The clinical trial was designed to assess feasibility and safety of cardiopoietic mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in ischaemic heart failure. The 24 patients in the control group received standard care for heart failure in accordance, while the 21 patients in the cell therapy arm received, in addition to standard care, cardiopoietic MSCs originally harvested from the patient’s hip and orientated towards becoming a reparative cell type. The results showed that every patient in the stem cell treatment group improved. At 6 months follow-up, clinical performance assessed from the 6 minute walk-test improved, as did the ejection fraction. “Six months after treatment, the cell therapy group had a 7 percent absolute improvement in EF (ejection fraction) over baseline, versus a non-significant change in the control group. This improvement in EF is dramatic, particularly given the duration between the ischemic injury and cell therapy. It compares favorably with our most potent therapies in heart failure,”said Charles Murry, University of Washington, Seattle. “The benefit to patients who received cardiopoietic stem cell therapy was significant,” said Dr. Andre Terzic, study senior author and director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine. “This study helps us move beyond the science fiction notion of stem cell research, providing clinical evidence for a new approach in cardiovascular regenerative medicine.”

Source: http://blogs.terrapinn.com/total-biopharma/2013/04/12/humans-trial-cardiopoietic-stem-cells-shows-promising-results/?pk_campaign=Blog_Newsletter_total-biopharma&pk_kwd=2013-04-15&elq=cb1f80e1941547faadbb3a7a95178e40&elqCampaignId=3291&pk_campaign=Blog_Newsletter_total-biopharma&pk_kwd=2013-04-15&elq=cb1f80e1941547faadbb3a7a95178e40&elqCampaignId=3291

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