Stem Cell Transplant Treats Heart Failure

Japanese scientists initiated a study on the benefits of stem cell transplantation in cases of dilated cardiomyopathy, which is an important cause of heart failure. It is known that mesenchymal stem cells are primary cells that can develop into any type of cell in the human body, including cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells found in blood vessels. However, it has not been established whether dilated cardiomyopathy can be treated with the help of stem cell therapy.

Scientists chose rat models suffering from DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy) and investigated the production of heart muscle cells and new blood vessel cells after transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells.

The stem cells they used were isolated from the bone marrow of adult rats having identical genotypes and were expanded in laboratory. The cultured mesenchymal stem cells started secreting mitogenic factors (that stimulate cell division), antiapoptotic factors (that reduce cell death), angiogenic factors (that help new blood vessels grow by sprouting from pre-existing vessels) as well as a series of other growth factors. Five weeks after immunization, either mesenchymal stem cells or vehicle was injected into the myocardium of the rats.

Compared with the effects of vehicle injection, mesenchymal stem cell injections lead to a significant increase in capillary density, as well as a decrease in the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (11±1 versus 16±1 mm Hg).

The benefits brought by the mesenchymal stem cells injected resided not only in their differentiation into cardiomyocytes and vascular cells, but also in their supplying large amounts of growth factors. Thus, researchers conclude that transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells greatly improve cardiac function in rat models, through induction of new cardiac muscle cell growth and new blood vessel growth.

The study was published online ahead of print, in the Aug. 15 issue of the journal "Circulation".

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