Stem cells in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases

heart
Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in modern society. According to the World Health Organization, about 17 million people in the world die annually from cardiovascular diseases.

And if in recent years scientists succeeded to reduce in part cancer mortality through early detection of the disease, the introduction of new treatments into clinical practice and preventive measures, the urbanized style of modern life, lack of exercises, stress, unhealthy diet make cardiovascular diseases one of the most urgent health and socio-economic problems throughout the world.

An important role in the structure of cardio-vascular pathology belongs to myocardial infarction, in which the necrosis of heart muscle due to insufficient blood supply occurs with subsequent replacement of myocardium with the connective tissue. Existing pharmaceuticals are not able to restore cardiac tissue, and contractile ability of the heart is greatly reduced. Therefore, stem cells from such sources as bone marrow, umbilical cord and peripheral blood, adipose tissue, amniotic fluid, placenta and the stem cells of the endocardium are widely applied in cardiology. Thus, the U.S. biotechnology company «Capricor» (Los Angeles) has developed a drug based on the donor heart stem cells to treat heart failure in patients with myocardial infarction.

heart (1)

Stem cells are able to recoup lost of cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), and due to the production of a number of cellular hormones (cytokines) stimulate the natural recovery of the heart. It is also shown that hematopoietic stem cells, in which the bone marrow and umbilical cord blood are so rich, reduce apoptosis (programmed cell death) of cardiomyocytes and contribute to the growth of new microvessels supplying blood to myocardium. There is evidence that cell therapy may restore the myocardium in the area of postinfarction scars even when administered 10 years after the heart attack.

Besides the treatment of postinfarction cardiosclerosis, the effectiveness of stem cells was shown in the treatment of cardiomyopathy – a primary lesion of the heart muscle that is not associated with inflammatory, neoplastic or ischemic reasons. In cardiomyopathies the contractile function of the heart ventricles is always altered. It was shown that injected into the bloodstream stem cells replace the connective tissue that disrupts the heart muscle, and contribute to the restoration of the myocardium. Due to the formation of new vessels (angiogenesis) from the stem cells the trophical processes in the myocardium are improved as well as its supply with oxygen and nutrients.

heart (2)

Active introduction of cellular technologies in cardiology and cardiac surgery has even led to the appearance of a new trend in medicine – cellular cardiomyoplasty. Cellular cardiomyoplasty implies the restoration of the heart through the introduction of stem cells into blood vessels. For the treatment of cardiovascular disease cell preparations are administered either directly into the coronary arteries or peripheral veins.

To date, more than 150 clinical trials on the effectiveness of stem cells in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases are being carried out worldwide.

Also the approaches to the use of cell therapy in the treatment of critical limbs ischemia, particularly in diabetes, as well as in the treatment of migrant thromboangitis – Buerger’s disease, are being actively developed. For the treatment of vascular diseases of the lower extremities cord blood is the primary source of stem cells because it contains unique endothelial progenitor cells capable of giving rise to new vessels.

MinOkhZdor_emblemThus, in 2012, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine approved cell drug, developed by the Institute of Cell Therapy, based on cord blood stem cells for the treatment of critical limbs ischemia. Also, experts from the Institute of Cell Therapy achieved success in the treatment of cardiomyopathy using stem cells. And the Institute of Urgent and Reconstructive Surgery n.a.VK Husak widely uses biotechnologies in the treatment of coronary heart disease. If the coronary artery bypass can not be performed to a patient because of the very low ejection fraction of the heart, cell therapy may bring the patient to a state of operability.

Another urgent problem of modern cardiology and cardiac surgery is tissue engineering of blood vessels and heart valves. After all, even the most advanced artificial prostheses are not able to reproduce the natural inner surface of blood vessels – the endothelium. Molecular structure of the endothelium prevents thrombosis and produces a number of important biologically active substances. A problem of prosthetisis of heart valves in children is the need to replace them as the child grows. With stem cells the scientists linked high hopes for the production of more sophisticated biological prostheses.

Currently several tens implantations of heart valves and vascular grafts grown from stem cells, were performed worldwide. And in 2013, a group of scientists from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA), using induced pluripotent stem cells, grew tissue of the human heart capable to spontaneous contractions.

Thus, to date, cell therapy in cardiology emerged as a new trend of the effective treatment of heart and blood vessels diseases, expanding the therapeutic options for physicians and improving the quality of life of patients. Atologous stem cell banking offers individual production of immunologically compatible drugs for the treatment of cardiac patients .

Detailed information about the methods of treatment:

Institute of Cell Therapy

International Center of Biotechnology BIOSTEM

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