Take Heart With Stem Cells

The possibility of using stem cells to rebuild tissue of patients with heart attacks and heart failure has revived hopes. But clinical trials have produced only modest results – and not in the way clinicians expected.

Now the early results are pointing researchers toward other types of stem cells that may be better suited to repair cardiac muscle.

With over 5 million Americans now suffering from heart failure, the number is sure to rise as 76 million Baby Boomers grow older. Cardiologists, however, are expecting breakthroughs in stem cell therapy.

“We’re trying to tear pages out of nature’s playbook,” says Dr. Douglas Losordo, director of the Program in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Initially, stem cells found in bone marrow were particularly tantalizing for heart repair.

These stem cells were successfully used to rebuild the immune systems of cancer patients, and scientists discovered the cells have the capacity to grow into heart muscle, blood vessels, and other tissues.

In just a few minutes, a heart blockage can kill at least a billion cells because of a lack of oxygen. These cells don’t grow back, scar tissue remains, and a weakened circulatory system results.

Patients experiencing heart failure have an average life expectancy of less than five years, according to Dr. Chuck Murry, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“It’s deadlier than breast cancer,” Dr. Murry says.

New Study Paths

From 2002 to 2006, there were at least 18 randomized controlled studies involving nearly 1,000 patients.

“Everyone started putting bone marrow into the heart,” according to Dr. Christine Mummery, a researcher at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She is responsible for studying how to turn stem cells into heart muscle cells known as cardiomyocytes.

The therapy produced only marginal results, according to Dr. Mummery. But researchers found stem cells which don’t grow into new heart cells seem to help patients in other ways, and that’s what they’re analyzing.

“It’s a little bit mysterious,” says Dr. Eduardo Marban, director of the Cedar-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles.

Dr. Marban believes transplanted cells secrete chemicals which boost heart function, not because of new tissue growth. The “stem cells are raising an alarm to resident cardiac stem cells. They seem to work indirectly,” he says.

Consequently, Dr. Marban started to study stem cells from the heart instead of bone marrow.

Unfortunately, the so-called cardiac progenitor cells naturally repair heart muscle but far too slowly to cope with catastrophic injury. These cells are rare and account for about one in 40,000 working heart cells.

But generated in larger concentrations researchers think cardiac progenitor cells might promote healing and reverse heart scarring.

“Let’s just say we’re extremely encouraged,” Dr. Marban says.

Multipurpose Helpers

In other labs, researchers are focused on more powerful, pluripotent stem cells which have the potential to grow into any type of tissue in the body.

Some labs are using embryonic stem cells, and others are studying induced pluripotent stem cells derived from adult tissues and rewound to an embryonic state.

At the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Dr. Kenneth Chien has grown mouse embryonic stem cells into a strip of mature cardiac tissue. According to the journal Science, the patch was only six or seven cell layers thick, similar to a heart “Band-Aid.”

Further, embryonic stem cells run the risk of rejection and are still a long way from being tested in humans. These cells also can form into tumors and not beat in sync with surrounding heart tissue.

Some of the most promising work with pluripotent stem cells is about ramping up the heart’s own healing abilities.

WMB believes stem cell research holds promise for improving life expectancy, especially for those with severe heart problems. More and varied research in stem cell uses should be encouraged.

TechMan

Next Big Thing For You?

Chances are if you're over 40, you’re hearing your cholesterol is approaching or surpassing the unhealthy level. This is especially true if your job is a sedentary one and your eating habits are this side of a Happy Meal.

If that’s so, then you should be interested in an experimental Merck drug that the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company says safely boosted good cholesterol to record highs and dropped bad cholesterol to unprecedented lows.

The study shocked researchers and boosted hopes for an entirely new way of lowering heart risks, according to The Associated Press.

“We are the most excited we have been in decades” about a novel drug, said the study's leader, Dr. Christopher Cannon, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. “This could really be the next big thing.”

The drug, anacetrapib (an-uh-SEHT'-ruh-pihb), won't be on the market soon because it needs testing to see if its dramatic effects on cholesterol will translate into fewer heart attacks, strokes and deaths. Merck & Co. announced a 30,000-patient study to answer that question, and it will take several years.

But the sheer magnitude of its effects so far caused big excitement at an American Heart Association conference in Chicago, where results were presented. Results of the study also were published online by The New England Journal of Medicine.

“The data look spectacular, beyond what anybody would have expected,” said Dr. Robert Eckel, a University of Colorado cardiologist and past president of the heart association. “It's like a rocket to Jupiter versus one to the moon. I can think of many of my patients who could use the drug right now.”

Merck’s timing in this study couldn’t be better. The cholesterol drug market is highly competitive, with sales exceeding $30 billion a year.

Some cholesterol drugs treat hereditary- and diet-related types, others deal with one or the other. The effectiveness of these drugs depends on individual situations; no one size fits all.

Still, major pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, have been looking for the “next big thing” since the statins – including Crestor, Lipitor, Pravachol, Zocor – started gaining acceptance in treating high cholesterol and, in some cases, reducing the risk for first heart attacks.

Statins are drugs that can lower your cholesterol, according to MayoClinic.com. They work by blocking a substance your body needs to make cholesterol.

Statins may also help your body reabsorb cholesterol that has built up in plaques on your artery walls, preventing further blockage in your blood vessels and heart attacks.

For years, doctors have focused on lowering LDL, or bad cholesterol, to cut heart risks. Statin medicines do this. But many statin users still suffer heart attacks, so doctors have been trying to get LDL to very low levels and to boost HDL, or good cholesterol.

Anacetrapib would be the first drug of its kind. It helps keep fat particles attached to HDL, which carries it in the bloodstream to the liver to be disposed of.

The Merck-sponsored study tested it in 1,623 people already taking statins because they are at higher than usual risk of a heart attack – half had already had one, and many others had conditions like diabetes.

An LDL of 100 to 129 is considered good for healthy people, but patients like these should aim for under 100 or even under 70, guidelines say. For HDL, 40 to 59 is OK, but higher is better.

After six months in the Merck study:

*LDL scores fell from 81 to 45 in those on anacetrapib, and from 82 to 77 in those given dummy pills.

*HDL rose from 41 to 101 in the drug group, and from 40 to 46 in those on dummy pills.

Such large changes have never been seen before, doctors say, and these improvements persisted for at least another year that the study continued.

The study was too small to tell whether anacetrapib lowered deaths, heart attacks or other heart problems, but the trend was in the right direction, with fewer of those cases among patients on the drug. The anacetrapib group also needed significantly fewer procedures to fix clogged arteries.

“We are trying not to be too giddy. The potential benefit is enormous,” said Dr. Luciano Rossetti, Merck senior vice president of global scientific strategy.

We, at WMB, applaud Merck and other pharmaceutical companies for efforts such as this because it's exactly the type of win-win that boosts industry and consumers, a marriage of financial and health benefits.

Anacetrapib could revolutionize the way we treat cholesterol problems and help prevent heart-related troubles – potential issues as we grower older, regardless of how well we maintain ourselves physically.

The kind of leadership shown by Merck in this endeavor underscores the need for all American companies, regardless of product, to think “outside the box” in advancing not only their bottom line but civilization.

The potential benefits of anacetrapib are global, and we are encouraged by the initial findings!

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com. If you like this post, please share it.

Value Of Vitamins Overstated?

Scientific studies are casting doubts about vitamins serving as the cure-all for a variety of human ailments. Especially at issue is the benefit of mega-doses.

About a week ago, a clinical trial study concluded vitamins E and C had no effect on cancer rates for men. Another study found no effect on heart disease.

And further, a trial last month on vitamin E and selenium’s impact on prostate cancer was postponed because of concern about harmful effects. Doctors also recently reported that vitamin C protects both cancerous and healthy cells.

Vitamins, such as B12, supplement the elderly; folic acid helps women; and calcium and Vitamin D for women over 65 are beneficial.

But more than a decade of research is concluding that taking large doses of vitamins provides no general benefit.

Good & Bad Points of Vitamins

Scientists in March concluded children who take vitamin D may reduce the effect of Type 1 diabetes when they reach adulthood by as much as 30 percent.

Health expert, Dr. John Briffa, says the study is “another piece in the ever-growing body of evidence linking vitamin D and sunlight with benefits for health and disease-protection in both adults and children.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics in October recommended that young children and babies get more vitamin D to help prevent Parkinson’s disease and other disorders. The AAP recommends infants take double the amount of vitamin D previously recommended.

But other recent studies have suggested vitamins and supplements are ineffective, or even possibly harmful. The makers of the popular multivitamin supplement Airborne agreed to a $23.3 million class-action settlement for claiming the product cures and prevents colds.

An April review by the Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark of 67 health studies found that ingesting vitamins A and E and the supplement beta-carotene might actually raise the risk of premature death.

The Guardian, a UK newspaper, reports “vitamin A was linked to a 16 percent increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7 percent increased risk, and vitamin E to a 4 percent increased risk.”

The New York Times notes researchers have been reporting on the negative effects of vitamins for more than a decade.

A 1994 study in Finland found that beta-carotene increased the incidence of lung cancer in smokers, and vitamin users among workers exposed to asbestos demonstrated an increase for lung cancer and death from heart disease.

Find Facts Before Dosing

In response to the latest news about vitamins E and C, Ginger Marks of The National Ledger concludes that people who are confused about the health benefits of supplements should consult a medical professional.

“Many believe that vitamins are a cure-all and help protect against lousy eating and exercise habits,’’ Marks says. “Consult your doctor; find out how much you should be eating, what particular vitamins you should be taking, and exercise. Don’t spend your money on anything without doing the research.”

If you are wondering how to maintain your health without taking supplements, Fran Berkoff of the Toronto Sun recommends to readers that the vitamins found naturally in foods are always best.

“While some of the studies question the value of taking supplements, none so far question the value of eating foods rich in these antioxidants,’’ Berkoff says. “The benefit of a rich diet in these compounds may be that they act in combination with other ingredients that are naturally found in foods.”

For instance, it may include other vitamins, minerals, natural plant chemicals and fiber. And, it may be this synergistic effect that provides you with the positive antioxidant benefit, Berkoff says.

We at WMB believe many people may want to give up taking vitamins altogether because of the conflicting information over effectiveness.

By referencing Web guides to dietary supplements and consulting with your physician, you should be able to sort fact from fiction and come up with a dietary plan that boosts your chances at achieving optimal health.

This post is by TechMan, WMB co-author who blogs about trends, ideas, issues affecting business, industry, technology and consumers.