Posted on November 6, 2012 at 11:48 AM LOS ANGELES—Researchers
are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts
damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by
strangers proved as safe and effective as patients’ own cells
for helping restore heart tissue. The work involved just 30
patients in Miami and Balitmore, but proves the concept that
anyone’s cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are
excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked
for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept
on hand now. Results were discussed Monday at an American Heart
Association conference in California and published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association. The study used a
specific type of stem cells from bone marrow that researchers
believed would not be rejected by recipients. Unlike other
cells, these lack a key feature on their surface that makes the
immune system see them as foreign tissue and attacks them,
explained the study’s leader, Dr. Josh