Breakthough stemcell surgery could end need for transplants

Heart disease patients in Britain could soon take part in a revolutionary stem cell surgery trial that could change the nature of heart surgery and ultimately end the need for transplants.

By Caroline Gammell

Heart disease affects more than a million people in the UK and kills around 120,000 people a year Photo: GETTY

It is believed that British patents could take the pioneering treatment, in which a patient's own cells are extracted and grown in a laboratory, in as little as a year.

Scientists have worked out a technique where human bone marrow cells are turned into human heart stem cells and then injected into the heart.

Laboratory grown heart stem cells were initially extensively tested on animals and trials on humans in Europe are due to start later this month.

Dr Jonathan Hill, a consultant cardiologist at London's King's College Hospital, is hoping to perform trials on British patients next year in conjunction with King's College London University.

"I have seen the results of the trials and they are very encouraging," he said. "We are negotiating to carry out human trials in the UK."

Professor Sian Harding, of Imperial College London, said being able to convert bone marrow stem cells into heart stem cell was a "big leap forward" in finding an "effective" treatment for heart failure.

"Placing heart stem cells into the heart to repair has a very good chance of working because the stem cells are the patient's own there are no problems with rejection," she said.

Prof Harding is working on turning embryo stem cells into heart stem cells but said her research was "still years away" from being used in patients.

Dr Duncan Dymond, a consultant cardiologist at London's Bart's Hospital, added: "Turning human stem cells into human heart cells is very exciting news.

"People with bad heart failure often lead a wretched life confined to home and unable to get out and about. If you are lucky you might get a heart transplant but many simply die before their time."

Last month, a method of cloning specialist versions of heart stem cells - known as "progenitor" cells - found in small quantities in human hearts received an international innovation award.

Last year, the Daily Telegraph disclosed how two heart attack patients in Britain had stem cells taken from bone marrow injected into their hearts in a bid to repair damaged tissue.

The most recent process was developed at the Mayo Clinic research centre in Minnesota.

As part of the planned human trials, 40 millilitres of bone marrow will be taken from a volunteer's hips.

The bone marrow is then grown in a laboratory into human heart stem cells using a special 'growth factor' protein.

The growth factor delivers a chemical signal to the stem cells to turn them from bone marrow cells into heart cells.

These cells are then infused into the patient's heart via a catheter in the groin and an improvement in a patient's condition is expected within a couple of weeks.

The development was disclosed during a major stem cell conference in New York and has been submitted to a leading medical journal.

Dr Christian Homsy of Cardio3 Biosciences - the company which is developing human heart stem cells - said: "Human heart stem cells repaired damaged areas of mice hearts in our trials. And we are convinced that we can do the same in humans.

"It is a very straightforward procedure and we would expect to see a patient's health to change quite rapidly over a period of several weeks to a couple of months. In the mouse trials it was quite quick but in humans we don't know yet."

Heart disease affects more than a million people in the UK and kills around 120,000 people a year.