Research examines if stem cell injections may help alleviate chest pains

At 3:55 pm by Kate - Category: Did You Hear?

Today, stem cells are primarily used in the treatment of disease and in tissue regeneration. They largely come from one of three sources – cord blood, bone marrow and peripheral blood. At ViaCord, we’re dedicated to storing cord blood stem cells for families for potential medical use. We’re also dedicated to keeping you up to date with the latest related research.  That is why we’d like to tell you about a study recently posted by the American Heart Association (AHA),which shows that patients who experience chronic chest pain may find relief with bone marrow stem cell treatment. Although the source of stem cells used in this study was bone marrow, we think it’s valuable to monitor advancement in bone marrow stem cell applications because of its potential to carry over to cord blood science someday …. especially because the study specifically looked at CD34+ cells which are also found in cord blood.

Promising results help scientists move forwardApproximately 850,000 people in the United States have refractory angina. This condition causes untreatable chest pain and can make exercise nearly intolerable.

The Intramyocardial, Autologous CD34+ Cell Therapy for Refractory Angina study is the first of its kind to show that low-dose injections of bone marrow stem cells harvested from the patient improve chronic pain and increase exercise tolerance.

Researchers, however, are still cautiously optimistic as they continue to pursue answers to remaining questions. One matter for further exploration involves patients who were taking a high-dose injection of stem cells and did not show significant improvement. This leaves scientists wondering if the high dose is less effective because it’s outside of the therapeutic range and requires adjustment. In addition, it was found that the bone marrow harvest process caused some patients to exhibit elevated levels of an enzyme that indicates heart damage. However, none of these patients had any changes on EKG or experienced any pain.

These ongoing questions will be further examined in future studies as the researchers work to understand how the stem cells function to repair blood vessels in the heart.

The study will move forward with a Phase III clinical trial later this year. This phase is critical for two reasons: it will use a larger group of patients, and it’s required in order to receive approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring a therapeutic to public market. For people suffering from refractory angina, an FDA-approved treatment could mean a significant change in their quality of life; like advancing from only watching television to walking, or from walking to riding a bike.

Translating success to cord bloodIt’s interesting to note that patients were injected with CD34+ cells— a cell type that is also found in cord blood. And as we know from Dr. Hal Broxmeyer’s, a renowned pioneering cord blood scientist, latest study there is no evidence that cord blood stem cells will expire, meaning the stem cells you bank today could potentially be used decades from now. ¹

Additional research would of course be required to uncover any potential for cord blood stem cells to be used in future treatments like these. Until then, we’ll keep you updated with more exciting stem cell news.

And tell us, is there anything you’ve read in stem cell news that you’d like more information about?