Researchers from the North Carolina State University have developed a new stem cell therapy that can repair damage to the heart muscle.  This therapy has the added advantage of having less side effects than conventional therapies.

When the heart muscle experiences a heart attack, it can cause scarring and long-term damage.  The scarring prevents the heart muscle from correctly expanding and contracting.

The scientists working on this project have developed a new stem cell therapy to repair the portions of the heart that have been scarred or damaged.  They have managed to successfully transplant synthetic cardiac stem cells into the heart muscle, which repaired some parts of the heart.

One of the major hurdles when using stem cell therapy is the potential side effects. One of the potential side effects is the transplanted stem cells being rejected by the immune system of the patient.  The transplanted stem cells can also decide that the recipient’s tissue is foreign — a condition called great versus host disease.  Stem cells can even cause cancerous growths to occur in the recipient. 

The researchers developed synthetic stem cells to remove the possibility of cancerous growths occurring the recipient.

The cells are created by combining proteins from human cardiac stem cells with a synthetic polymer.  The polymer prevents the stem cells from becoming cancer cells and forming tumours.

One of the researchers, Dr. Ke Cheng, describes the goal of the project: “We are hoping that this may be a first step towards a truly off-the-shelf cell product that would enable people to receive beneficial stem cell therapies when they’re needed, without costly without delays.”

This breakthrough may greatly improve the safety of all stem cell transplant in the future.

Source: Stem Cell Therapy: New Treatment Repairs Heart Without Risk For Cancer

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