Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Human Heart

[LSU]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20070827/hl_hsn/embryonicstemcellsrepairhumanheart&printer=1;_ylt=AlhbDs0yUHMQGSICChzZYVm9j7AB


Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Human Heart

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter1 hour, 29 minutes ago

MONDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Experiments in rats show that human embryonic stem cells can repair damaged heart muscle, improve heart function and slow the progression of heart failure.

Using stem cells to repair damaged hearts is something that appears promising, but so far it has been fraught with problems.

Previous experiments have shown that it is possible to create heart cells from embryonic stem cells. However, most of these cells do not become heart muscle cells, and many don't survive once transplanted into a damaged heart.

"We found a way to increase the survival of these cells," said lead researcher Dr. Charles Murry, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington, in Seattle.

Murry's team created a "survival" cocktail that prevented the cells from dying. The treated cells were then implanted in rats that had had their hearts damaged to simulate a heart attack.

"If we prepared our cells in this cocktail and transplanted them, we could get virtually 100 percent of the rats to have human heart muscle grafts in them," Murry said.

The researchers compared the rats receiving the cells with three other groups of rats. One group received only injections of water, and another group was given the survival cocktail without cells. The third group was given non-cardiac cells.

The researchers found that the rats that didn't receive the human heart cells all developed heart failure, according to the report in the Aug. 27 online issue of Nature Biotechnology.

"In contrast, the animals that got the human heart muscle grafts implanted in them had a complete reversal of the progression of heart failure," Murry said.

The study shows that growing heart muscle in an injured heart is possible, Murry noted. "In patients who had suffered a heart attack, if we were able to re-muscularize their heart with stem cell-derived heart muscle cells, this should prevent them from developing heart failure," he said. "The rub is that the rat is not a person."

Murry thinks that while the finding is promising, it needs to be confirmed in larger animals such as sheep or pigs, because their hearts beat slower. Rat hearts beat 450 times a minute, while the human heart beats about 70 times a minute. "So, there may be problems that were not predicted with the rat model," he acknowledged.

One expert thinks that while the results of this study are promising, there are still many problems to be overcome before stem cells can be used to treat humans after a heart attack.

"This study makes the case that you can use embryonic stem cells after a heart attack, and shows that there is an improvement in cardiac function," said Dr. Kenneth R. Chien, a member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

In contrast to adult stem cells, these embryonic heart cells appear to actually be heart muscle. Experiments with adult stem cells seem to show improved heart function by creating blood vessels, Chien explained.

Chien noted that long-term follow-up is needed to be sure the heart muscle continues to function and that some of these cells don't become cancer cells, as has been the case with adult stem cells.

"The other issue is whether these cells will survive over a long time and how efficiently are they grafted in with the neighboring cells," Chien said. "In addition, because rat hearts beat so fast, they are resistant to arrhythmias. When you put this into an animal with a slower heart rate, would there be arrhythmias over the long term?"

"Clinical applications are many years away," Chien said. "But this is an important step."

More information

For more information on stem cells and heart attack, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

[KinjaKahn]

Propaganda.

[LSU]

Propaganda.


Why is it propaganda?

You think it's a lie and it's not really going happening?

Whether it works or not, it shouldn't be used, right?

So what's it matter if it does work?

[KinjaKahn]

Why is it propaganda?

You think it's a lie and it's not really going happening?

Whether it works or not, it shouldn't be used, right?

So what's it matter if it does work?

First lets take on the catch phrase, or title if you will...

Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Human Heart

Who's human heart was repaired?

[LSU]

First lets take on the catch phrase, or title if you will...

Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Human Heart

Who's human heart was repaired?


Are you saying that the media reports science in a way off manner?

"The rub is that the rat is not a person."


Agreed.


But while the idiot writer can't quite title an article right, repairing heart damage is an interesting prospect.

[KinjaKahn]

Why do we need to grow tissue, when we already have 6.5 billion potential tissue donors?

<simple question>

[LSU]

Why do we need to grow tissue, when we already have 6.5 billion potential tissue donors?

<simple question>



Potential rejection issues, transport of the tissue, waiting lists, red tape, people not donating.


IF cells (bone marrow, adult, embryonic, whatever) could be used to recreate tissue, rejection issues are limited, if not obliterated, and you serve as your own donator.

[KinjaKahn]

Potential rejection issues, transport of the tissue, waiting lists, red tape, people not donating.


IF cells (bone marrow, adult, embryonic, whatever) could be used to recreate tissue, rejection issues are limited, if not obliterated, and you serve as your own donator.

I have no embryonic stem cells left, I also didn't preserve my umbilical cord, how could I be my own donor in this instance?

[Ed Who?]

I have no embryonic stem cells left, I also didn't preserve my umbilical cord, how could I be my own donor in this instance?

You'd probably have to take a couple of Hustlers to the room in the corner.

[LSU]

I have no embryonic stem cells left, I also didn't preserve my umbilical cord, how could I be my own donor in this instance?



I'm not sure, but I think bone marrow derived stem cells are being researched, as well.

And I'm not saying we can only have one or the other. Why can't both be an option?

[KinjaKahn]

I'm not sure, but I think bone marrow derived stem cells are being researched, as well.

And I'm not saying we can only have one or the other. Why can't both be an option?

It was a simple question... try again...

I have no embryonic stem cells left, I also didn't preserve my umbilical cord, how could I be my own donor in this instance?

[LSU]

It was a simple question... try again...

I have no embryonic stem cells left, I also didn't preserve my umbilical cord, how could I be my own donor in this instance?


You still have bone marrow, correct? That seemed to be a pretty simple answer, I thought.

[KinjaKahn]

You still have bone marrow, correct? That seemed to be a pretty simple answer, I thought.

the topic and heated national debate is embryonic stem cells.

clue: totipotent

[LSU]

the topic and heated national debate is embryonic stem cells.

clue: totipotent


If this is the type of conversation, you're going to have, let me know now so that I won't get involved with it.

Above, I said it would be interesting if they could get the same effects from other types of stem cells.

If this topic is embryo-derived limited, and therefore just a moral discussion, I don't have a dog in that fight.

[KinjaKahn]

My Dolly has a first name it's t - o - t - i - p - o - t - e - n - t
My Dolly has a second name it's C - L - O - N - E

You are the one touting This Rat with human heart nonsense.

How Are Pluripotent Stem Cells Produced?

There are several ways to produce human pluripotent stem cells. These methods have been developed over the past 17 years by researchers working with animals. The work you will hear about today builds on this important basic animal research.

As I mentioned earlier, one method of creating these pluripotent stem cells was described by Dr. Thomson and his coworkers. The techniques they used were initially developed using mice. Dr. Thomson first made stem cells from non-human primates. In the most recent work, they used inner cell mass cells from blastocyst stage human embryos that were created in the course of infertility treatment and donated by couples for research to derive stem cells. The researchers allowed cell division to continue in culture to the blastocyst stage and then removed the inner cell mass, which was cultured to derive pluripotent stem cells.

Pluripotent stem cells can also be derived from fetal tissue, as was first done using primordial germ cells from mouse fetal tissue. Dr. Gearhart and coworkers isolated human primordial germ cells, the cells that will go on to become eggs and sperm, from 5-9 week old fetal tissue obtained after pregnancy termination. When grown in culture, these stem cells appear to be pluripotent.

It may also be possible to make human pluripotent stem cells by using somatic cell nuclear transfer -- the technology that received so much attention with the announcement of the birth of the sheep, Dolly. Although there has been no scientific publication of this to date, presumably any cell from the human body (except the egg or sperm cell) could be fused with an enucleated egg cell and stimulated to return to highly immature, pluripotent and possibly totipotent state.

[LSU]

My Dolly has a first name it's t - o - t - i - p - o - t - e - n - t
My Dolly has a second name it's C - L - O - N - E



I see.

Good day.

[KinjaKahn]

I see.

Good day.

Why not just start a thread touting your position of being Pro human cloning? Instead you push this human cloning idea under the guise of promising cures to Superman and Marty McFly.

[Vegas]

Why not just start a thread touting your position of being Pro human cloning? Instead you push this human cloning idea under the guise of promising cures to Superman and Marty McFly.

Embryonic stem cell research isn't the same thing as human cloning.

[KinjaKahn]

Embryonic stem cell research isn't the same thing as human cloning.

ROFL says who?

[Jiddy78]

ROFL says who?

Vegas?

I saw you knocked the byaah video. You're in my cloned dog's house.

[KinjaKahn]

Vegas?

I saw you knocked the byaah video. You're in my cloned dog's house.

Thats not a cloned dog its an embryonic stem cell research dog.

[Jiddy78]

Thats not a cloned dog its an embryonic stem cell research dog.

That Jack Russell was full of sh*t man...

[KinjaKahn]

How Are Pluripotent Stem Cells Produced?

There are several ways to produce human pluripotent stem cells. These methods have been developed over the past 17 years by researchers working with animals. The work you will hear about today builds on this important basic animal research.

As I mentioned earlier, one method of creating these pluripotent stem cells was described by Dr. Thomson and his coworkers. The techniques they used were initially developed using mice. Dr. Thomson first made stem cells from non-human primates. In the most recent work, they used inner cell mass cells from blastocyst stage human embryos that were created in the course of infertility treatment and donated by couples for research to derive stem cells. The researchers allowed cell division to continue in culture to the blastocyst stage and then removed the inner cell mass, which was cultured to derive pluripotent stem cells.
This is invalid as the embryo possesses unique DNA that doesn't overcome the tissue rejection issue. However is applicable to testing but not curing.
Pluripotent stem cells can also be derived from fetal tissue, as was first done using primordial germ cells from mouse fetal tissue. Dr. Gearhart and coworkers isolated human primordial germ cells, the cells that will go on to become eggs and sperm, from 5-9 week old fetal tissue obtained after pregnancy termination. When grown in culture, these stem cells appear to be pluripotent.
This is invalid as the embryo possesses unique DNA that doesn't overcome the tissue rejection issue. However is applicable to testing but not curing.
It may also be possible to make human pluripotent stem cells by using somatic cell nuclear transfer -- the technology that received so much attention with the announcement of the birth of the sheep, Dolly. Although there has been no scientific publication of this to date, presumably any cell from the human body (except the egg or sperm cell) could be fused with an enucleated egg cell and stimulated to return to highly immature, pluripotent and possibly totipotent state.
So we are left with this. What is the significance of Dolly the sheep? Possibly totipotent... funny. Why so scared to say clone?

totipotent: capable of developing into a complete organism or differentiating into any of its cells or tissues <totipotent stem cells>

[Ed Who?]

I'm not sure, but I think bone marrow derived stem cells are being researched, as well.

And I'm not saying we can only have one or the other. Why can't both be an option?

If the one where no living, growing mass of cells bound to be a human being are terminated is sufficient, then it should be the only option. The only reason to keep the other open is to further the cause of women's rights.

[LSU]

If the one where no living, growing mass of cells bound to be a human being are terminated is sufficient, then it should be the only option. The only reason to keep the other open is to further the cause of women's rights.


I don't buy that. You can get embryonic stem cells without abortions. You've also had abortions for a number of years without the push for ESCs.

[Roy Munson]

This is invalid as the embryo possesses unique DNA that doesn't overcome the tissue rejection issue. However is applicable to testing but not curing.

This is invalid as the embryo possesses unique DNA that doesn't overcome the tissue rejection issue. However is applicable to testing but not curing.

So we are left with this. What is the significance of Dolly the sheep? Possibly totipotent... funny. Why so scared to say clone?

totipotent: capable of developing into a complete organism or differentiating into any of its cells or tissues <totipotent stem cells>
The idea is cloning cells, not complete animals.

[Tom Joad]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20070827/hl_hsn/embryonicstemcellsrepairhumanheart&printer=1;_ylt=AlhbDs0yUHMQGSICChzZYVm9j7AB


Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Human Heart

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter1 hour, 29 minutes ago

MONDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Experiments in rats show that human embryonic stem cells can repair damaged heart muscle, improve heart function and slow the progression of heart failure.

Using stem cells to repair damaged hearts is something that appears promising, but so far it has been fraught with problems.

Previous experiments have shown that it is possible to create heart cells from embryonic stem cells. However, most of these cells do not become heart muscle cells, and many don't survive once transplanted into a damaged heart.

"We found a way to increase the survival of these cells," said lead researcher Dr. Charles Murry, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington, in Seattle.

Murry's team created a "survival" cocktail that prevented the cells from dying. The treated cells were then implanted in rats that had had their hearts damaged to simulate a heart attack.

"If we prepared our cells in this cocktail and transplanted them, we could get virtually 100 percent of the rats to have human heart muscle grafts in them," Murry said.

The researchers compared the rats receiving the cells with three other groups of rats. One group received only injections of water, and another group was given the survival cocktail without cells. The third group was given non-cardiac cells.

The researchers found that the rats that didn't receive the human heart cells all developed heart failure, according to the report in the Aug. 27 online issue of Nature Biotechnology.

"In contrast, the animals that got the human heart muscle grafts implanted in them had a complete reversal of the progression of heart failure," Murry said.

The study shows that growing heart muscle in an injured heart is possible, Murry noted. "In patients who had suffered a heart attack, if we were able to re-muscularize their heart with stem cell-derived heart muscle cells, this should prevent them from developing heart failure," he said. "The rub is that the rat is not a person."

Murry thinks that while the finding is promising, it needs to be confirmed in larger animals such as sheep or pigs, because their hearts beat slower. Rat hearts beat 450 times a minute, while the human heart beats about 70 times a minute. "So, there may be problems that were not predicted with the rat model," he acknowledged.

One expert thinks that while the results of this study are promising, there are still many problems to be overcome before stem cells can be used to treat humans after a heart attack.

"This study makes the case that you can use embryonic stem cells after a heart attack, and shows that there is an improvement in cardiac function," said Dr. Kenneth R. Chien, a member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

In contrast to adult stem cells, these embryonic heart cells appear to actually be heart muscle. Experiments with adult stem cells seem to show improved heart function by creating blood vessels, Chien explained.

Chien noted that long-term follow-up is needed to be sure the heart muscle continues to function and that some of these cells don't become cancer cells, as has been the case with adult stem cells.

"The other issue is whether these cells will survive over a long time and how efficiently are they grafted in with the neighboring cells," Chien said. "In addition, because rat hearts beat so fast, they are resistant to arrhythmias. When you put this into an animal with a slower heart rate, would there be arrhythmias over the long term?"

"Clinical applications are many years away," Chien said. "But this is an important step."

More information

For more information on stem cells and heart attack, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

This is awesome news. For someone who has heart problems, this is great. I hope they can keep up with these useful discoveries.

[Vegas]

This is awesome news. For someone who has heart problems, this is great. I hope they can keep up with these useful discoveries.

There have been several news stories about heart disease treatments with adult stem cells as well.

[Tom Joad]

There have been several news stories about heart disease treatments with adult stem cells as well.

That's good, too. Every new finding is a step in the right direction. My heart problems aren't 100% fixed...I'd rather have a less invasive procedure than being cut from under one arm across my chest to under the other arm (it's the same scar heart-lung transplant patients get)...and I'm not being vain, would you want your chest cut open and your innards splaid about?

[KinjaKahn]

The idea is cloning cells, not complete animals.

U.N. Backs Human Cloning Ban

By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 9, 2005; Page A15

UNITED NATIONS, March 8 -- The U.N. General Assembly adopted a declaration Tuesday that calls on governments to ban all forms of human cloning that are "incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life."

The U.S.-backed resolution, which passed by a vote of 84 to 34 with 37 abstentions, is not legally binding. The vote ended four years of highly contentious debate toward a legally binding treaty -- an effort that unraveled when the participants could not agree.

The dispute pitted the United States and conservative Catholic countries, which favor a total ban, against many European, Asian and other governments, which want a partial ban that would permit the cloning of human embryos for stem cell research. Virtually all U.N. members agree that the cloning of humans should be banned.

Sichan Siv, the U.S. delegate, welcomed the action by the 191-member General Assembly in a brief statement. He referred to a previous U.S. statement praising the declaration for opposing scientific efforts to "take advantage of some, vulnerable lives for the benefit of others."

Britain, Belgium, China and other countries that support "therapeutic cloning" -- the cloning of human embryos in medical research aimed at finding cures for diseases -- said they will not honor the declaration.

"The United Kingdom is a strong supporter of therapeutic cloning research because it has the potential to revolutionize medicine in this century in the way that antibiotics did in the last," said Emyr Jones Parry, Britain's U.N. ambassador.

Diplomats and experts on cloning said that the language in Tuesday's declaration was ambiguous and that its meaning would be disputed. For example, it is unclear whether therapeutic cloning is considered "incompatible with human dignity."

Still, a number of U.S. and European medical and scientific groups expressed dismay over Tuesday's vote, saying it could undercut medical research aimed at curing a host of diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes.

The declaration could "halt or severely delay progress in the development of very important therapeutic treatments of major public health diseases," said Alan I. Leshner, chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

But those backing the total ban said Tuesday's action showed that support is growing.

"This declaration shows once and for all this is not all about the religious right," said William B. Hurlbut, a Stanford University ethicist who serves on President Bush's Council on Bioethics. "A decent society doesn't build the foundations of its biomedical science on the creation and destruction of human embryos."

If it were so simple as cloning single cells, there would be no debate, as the science community already is in possession of Embryonic stem cells.

Note the highlighted portions... is it coincidental that those same diseases are the ones the Embryonic stem cell research supporters are hooting and hollering about? Why at the end of the article are embryos even mentioned?

[Hotpapa666]

That's good, too. Every new finding is a step in the right direction. My heart problems aren't 100% fixed...I'd rather have a less invasive procedure than being cut from under one arm across my chest to under the other arm (it's the same scar heart-lung transplant patients get)...and I'm not being vain, would you want your chest cut open and your innards splaid about?


I agree, more information is always better than less information.