(Press-News.org) Northwestern Medicine physician researchers are revolutionizing treatment of cardiovascular disease by utilizing patients' own stem cells to regenerate heart and vascular tissue. Northwestern Medicine is the lead site for a study examining stem cell transplantation as treatment for critical limb ischemia. Chief investigator Douglas Losordo, MD, director of the Program in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, will present the findings of this study at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago, on Wednesday, November 17.
"Traditionally, cardiovascular medicine has focused on repairing damaged tissues with medication or surgery," said Losordo, also director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute. "For some patients, their cardiovascular disease is advanced to the point that standard treatment options are not effective. Regenerative cardiovascular medicine strives to redevelop cardiac and vascular tissue and stimulate new blood supply to areas like the heart and legs by using stem cells already present in the patient's body."
Losordo's limb preservation study examined the effectiveness of stem cell therapy in limb preservation for patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). CLI develops in patients with severe obstruction of the arteries which limits blood flow to the extremities. CLI results in more than 100,000 amputations annually in the United States. The trial tested the ability of CD34+ cells to stimulate new blood vessel formation in ischemic limbs, which can improve perfusion and salvage function.
The phase II, double-blind placebo controlled trial had a total of 28 patients randomized at 18 U.S. sites. The patients enrolled in this study were Rutherford class 4 and 5, meaning they were in the later stages of peripheral artery disease and at heightened risk for amputation. Patients in the randomized group had CD34 injected at eight locations in the ischemic limb and were followed for 12 months.
"Stem cell treatment was associated with a significant reduction in amputation rate," said Losordo. "Treatment was associated with a 50 percent reduction in the total amputation rate compared to control. Although further study is needed, these results provide evidence that CD34 cell therapy is an effective treatment for critical limb ischemia."
Losordo and his Northwestern Medicine team are leading the field of stem cell therapy for cardiovascular conditions and bringing it to the forefront of medicine. "The results of this study are encouraging and provide evidence for that stem cell therapy can significantly repair cardiac and vascular tissues," said Losordo. "As study of stem cells continues, I believe we're on the verge of a rebirth in the practice of medicine. Using a patient's own cells to regenerate their body has enormous potential to treat conditions that have previously been considered irreversible."
###
To learn more about the Program in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine, call 312-695-0072.
About Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Northwestern Memorial is one of the country's premier academic medical center hospitals and is the primary teaching hospital of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Along with its Prentice Women's Hospital and Stone Institute of Psychiatry, the hospital comprises 854 beds, 1,603 affiliated physicians and 7,144 employees. Northwestern Memorial is recognized for providing exemplary patient care and state-of-the art advancements in the areas of cardiovascular care; women's health; oncology; neurology and neurosurgery; solid organ and soft tissue transplants and orthopaedics.
Northwestern Memorial possesses nursing Magnet Status, the nation's highest recognition for patient care and nursing excellence, and it is listed in 12 clinical specialties in U.S. News & World Report's 2010 "America's Best Hospitals" guide. For 10 years running, it has been rated among the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" guide by Working Mother magazine. The hospital is a recipient of the prestigious National Quality Health Care Award and has been chosen by Chicagoans as the Consumer Choice according to the National Research Corporation's annual survey for 11 years.
END
PASADENA, Calif. — Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have demonstrated quantum entanglement for a quantum state stored in four spatially distinct atomic memories.
Their work, described in the November 18 issue of the journal Nature, also demonstrated a quantum interface between the atomic memories—which represent something akin to a computer "hard drive" for entanglement—and four beams of light, thereby enabling the four-fold entanglement to be distributed by photons across quantum networks. The research represents an important achievement ...
A new anti-cancer drug aimed at vitamin D receptors on cancer cells has prompted encouraging responses in the levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen) in men with prostate cancer that has become resistant to hormonal therapies.
Results of the phase II(a) clinical trial will be presented at the 22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Berlin today (Thursday). The trial found that when the new drug, inecalcitol, was combined with the existing, current therapy (docetaxel and prednisone) 83% of patients responded to the treatment ...
Scientists in Germany have developed a way of smuggling an anti-cancer drug past the protective blood-brain barrier and into brain tumours and metastases using a nanocarrier – a tiny capsule specially designed to pass through cell membranes and deliver its anti-cancer drug to the cancer cell.
The blood-brain barrier is formed by a network of closely sealed endothelial cells in the brain's capillaries, and it expresses a high level of proteins that pump foreign molecules away from the brain, while allowing others (such as glucose and insulin) that are necessary to the ...
In the movie Angels and Demons, scientists have solved one of the most perplexing scientific problems: the capture and storage of antimatter. In real life, trapping atomic antimatter has never been accomplished, until now.
A team made up of researchers from the University of Calgary, institutions across Canada and around the world have discovered how to trap atomic antimatter and the results of their discovery is published in the journal Nature.
"This is a major discovery. It could enable experiments that result in dramatic changes to the current view of fundamental ...
A new drug that targets proteins responsible for helping cancer cells to repair damage to their DNA has shown promising anti-tumour activity in its first trial in humans. Some patients with a range of solid tumours, many of whom had been treated unsuccessfully for their cancer with other therapies, have seen their tumours shrink or stabilise for periods of between 46 days to more than a year. The research will be presented at the 22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Berlin today (Thursday).
Laboratory studies of the drug, MK-4827, ...
WHAT:
In a review article appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, examine research under way to address the limitations of currently available influenza vaccines and develop more efficient and reliable strategies to make vaccines to protect against seasonal as well as pandemic influenza. Although licensed seasonal flu vaccines safely and effectively protect most people who receive them from illness and death, the degree of protection varies ...
Scientists at Emory University and the University of St. Andrews have solved the structure of a key protein from Lassa virus, which is endemic to West Africa and can cause a deadly hemorrhagic fever.
The structure reveals how the virus evades its host's immune system, and how it hijacks infected cells' vital machinery in a process scientists call "cap-stealing." Details of the structure could guide future efforts at antiviral drug discovery and vaccine development.
The results are published in this week's issue of Nature.
Lassa virus represents a family of viruses ...
GOLDEN, Colo. (November 17, 2010) – HealthGrades, the nation's leading independent ratings organization, today made available to organ transplant patients a list of those hospitals with the best track record for survival and chances of receiving a donor organ. HealthGrades annual evaluation of the nation's top-performing hospitals in organ transplantation includes clinical quality data, based on patient outcomes, for each of the 210 adult acute care hospitals that perform transplants. This information is available, free to the public, at HealthGrades.com and is intended ...
PHILADELPHIA – A research team from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) at Jefferson has concluded – for the first time – that a multidisciplinary clinic approach to aggressive prostate cancer can improve survival in patients. The results from the 15-year study of the multidisciplinary clinic can be found in the November issue of Journal of Oncology Practice.
Stats and Treatment
Prostate cancer remains the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. In fact, about 218,000 ...
A new study found that patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee who also have pain in other joints were more likely to experience greater knee pain. Specifically, pain in the lower back as well as foot pain and elbow pain on the same side as the affected knee were associated with more severe knee pain. Full details appear in the December issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.
Knee OA is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., with nearly 4.3 million adults over age 60 having ...