WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells derived from cloned mouse embryos are able to regenerate mouse hearts damaged by an induced myocardial infarction, corporate researchers said on Monday.
The cloned cells repaired the damage more efficiently and more quickly than adult stem cells from bone marrow, the team at Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts reported.
“We restored myocardial function and replaced 40% of the scar tissue,” Dr. Robert Lanza, chief medical officer for ACT, said in a telephone interview. “This is the first paper to show that cloned stem cells can repair damaged tissue in vivo.”
Dr. Lanza and colleagues’ results are published online by the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation Research.
Their study will add ammunition to the argument that cloning technology offers the promise of being superior to other forms of stem cell therapy.
Dr. Lanza’s team cloned mice and removed fetal liver stem cells from the embryos, and injected the cells into the hearts of mice with an induced infarction. Within three weeks, 38% of the infarcted tissue was alive and working again after stem cell treatment, Dr. Lanza said. In control animals, the infarct stayed dead.
In human patients, researchers have used the patients’ own bone marrow cells to repair damaged myocardium, but it takes time to remove the cells and grow large enough numbers to use. Dr. Lanza said the advantage of using cloned cells was it required about one-tenth as many cells, which means it took less time to grow a dose.
“A 46% infarct results in a few days in irreversible congestive heart failure and death in humans, indicating how dramatic can be the outcome of the disease and how important is the possibility of rapid intervention, myocardial regeneration, and reduction of infarct size,” his team writes.
Plus, he said, the cloning process has been shown to regenerate cells, returning them to youthful vigor. This presumably would mean any repair using cloned cells would last longer than one using adult cells.
Source: Circ Res 2004.DOI: 10.1161/01.RES.0000120863.53562.DF [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:Genetic Techniques: Investigative Techniques: Reproduction Techniques: Cloning, Organism: Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and EquipmentCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
