Some Stem-Cells May Not Be The Answer For Heart Disease The use
of stem-cells — building-block cells that are harvested from
embryos or adults — to treat heart disease could rely on faith
as much as it does science, after billions of dollars in
research has not produced the results that researchers have been
looking for. Questions and concerns on the topic arose during
the recent opening of the multi-million-dollar Scottish Center
for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) in Edinburgh, chaired by Sir
Ian Wilmut, the renowned scientist whose Dolly the sheep clone
in 1996, was a groundbreaking step in stem cell technology.
During the opening ceremonies of the Center, Christine Mummery
of the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands
discussed how a 2001 claim, based on mice experimentation,
indicated that bone-marrow cells could mend heart damaged by
coronary disease, caused a mad rush of people to the clinics
looking for a cure-all. With nothing in the way of systematic
research in animals, the first patients