A new source of stem cells has been discovered reported scientists Sunday afternoon. A readily available supply of these new cells, which are found in amniotic fluid, could solve the ethical problems that surround embryonic derived cells.

The amniotic stem cells are pluripotent, with the capacity to develop into many different types of cells including, nerve, liver, fat, blood vessel, muscle, and bone cells.

“These cells are easier to get, and from acceptable medical procedures [for example, amniocentesis] that are done on a routine basis,” said study senior author Dr. Anthony, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

“This is another source of multi-potential cells,” added Paul, director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair, in Tampa. “Because the cells can be accessed either post-birth or through amniocentesis, it’s possible that people could store those cells. If the cell lines that are created were available, then people could do some research on a non-embryonic source, which eliminates all the ethical and political issues.”

The January 7th issue of Nature Biotechnology has reported on the discovery of the cells, which are known as amniotic fluid-derived stem (AFS) cells.

The hope is that treatments or even cures for conditions such as spinal injury, stroke, liver failure, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer

Now in his 50’s, Bobby didn’t want to lose his life to congestive heart failure. And his wife Gay, wanted her husband back.

Today, Bobby is a pioneer in a research study that — if the results continue to look promising — might transform heart treatment forever.

In an experimental procedure called myoblast cell transplantation, Bobby received injections in his heart of 100 million stem cells grown from his own leg muscle.

Since he received his own body’s cells, there is no rejection problems.

Many months and perhaps years stand in the way of having a stem cell procedure like this to enter mainstream medicine (after gaining approval by the FDA), but this much is a fact – Bobby’s scarred and dying heart muscle is regenerating.

Bobby, who has had four heart attacks, was the first one to receive 100 million cells out of the 24 people enrolled in the nationwide study. Testing safety through escalating doses, others have received 30 million, 300 million, and 600 million in phase one. Only patients with congestive heart failure caused by heart attacks were eligible for the experiment, keeping the study focus narrow.

Dr. Nabil, who performed part of this research at The Arizona Heart Institute in Phoenix said that Bobby’s results were extraordinary.

“I didn’t expect to see such improvement with 100 million cells. … Patients will respond differently, but the results are extremely encouraging, even with small doses.”

The procedure has nothing to do with embryonic stem cell research and instead uses cells cultured from the patient’s leg muscle.

“Over the last five years, we have developed a method to transplant the cells by catheter, like an angiogram. The patient can be awake and discharged the next day to go home,” Nabil said.

The researchers have proven they can isolate stem cells from the skeletal muscle and, “that the cells survive and make new muscle in a matter of three months,” he said.

The first two research centers in the United States to receive FDA approval to use 3-D guidance technology were The Arizona Heart Hospital and the Arizona Heart Institute. Allowing doctors to pinpoint the damaged areas of the heart with three-dimensional color mapping, the doctors can then inject myobalsts into the specific areas.

Cardiologists from around the world will visit Washington in February where Nabil will present a conference on the early study results.

Bobby traveled to Phoenix to be tested for the study after Gay’s research led her to Dr. Nabil in August of 2005. He was rejected for the study during an initial test due to a bad sunburn, but he was then accepted during a subsequent test and had a heart catheterization to map his heart.

A biopsy of his thigh muscle was taken in March of 2006. The cell culture was grown during the next four to six weeks in Boston from the marble sized sample of muscle.

His cells grew quickly and by April 6, he was back in Arizona for the injection of 100 million cells on April 7.

He doubled the amount he could walk in six minutes during tests last month. He had photos of his heart taken along with a stress test and an echocardiogram (pictured right). “After lunch I met with Dr. Nabil and Bee (a research coordinator) and they gave me my stats. They were as excited as they could be.

“He’s keeping an eye on me because they can’t figure out how I have so much stamina. I’m healthier than other patients he’s been working with,” Bobby said.

Bobby was referred to Vanderbilt University in 2002 where he met with Dr. Stacie, who was head of the cardiology and heart transplant unit at Vanderbilt. She said that Bobby was, “judged too weak for a heart transplant and his heart’s ejection fraction was down to 18 percent.” The ejection fraction is the rate at which the heart pumps.

55 percent is the average rate that a heart contracts.

His ejection fraction is up to 25 percent since his stem cell injections – a major improvement. “He’s in the early phases of something really big, and I view him as a pioneer,” Stacie said. “What Bobby is doing will help every patient who comes after him.”

According to a study on how to repair the effects of cardiac failure, stem cells taken from a patient’s own body could help restore the health of a malfunctioning heart.

To replace damaged heart tissue, scientists have shown that it is possible to grow cardiac stem cells in the laboratory prior to transplanting them back into a patient.

Offering an alternative treatment to a complete heart-transplant operation, the findings demonstrate the prospect of rebuilding cardiac muscle that had been destroyed during a heart attack.

Since a pig’s heart is so similar to the human heart, the experiment was conducted on pigs. But the researchers involved said that clinical trials on people could begin in 12 months’ time.

The technique involves taking a small biopsy – a sample of living heart muscle – that is no bigger than a grain of rice said Professor Eduardo, head of cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

Using a standard method of accessing the organ through a catheter inserted into an artery in the leg, an infusion of stem cells was put into the animal’s heart. The stem cells were derived from a biopsy and then grown in the laboratory prior to infusion.

“This is a relatively simple method of stem cell extraction that can be used in any community-based clinic, and if further studies show the same kind of organ repair that we see in pigs, it could be performed on an outpatient basis,” Professor Eduardo said.

“Starting with just a small amount of tissue, we demonstrated that it was possible, very soon after a heart attack, to use the healthy parts of the heart to regenerate some of the damaged parts,” he said.

The stem cells in the experiment were labeled with a colored dye so that the scientists could see where they became integrated into the structure of the heart. The cells were cultured for up to a month in the laboratory.

About 10 million cells were injected back into the heart after growing them in the laboratory. The preliminary biopsy extracted about a million stem cells initially. After infusion, the stem cells were still embedded in functioning tissue two months later.

Professor Eduardo said that rather than measuring the physical benefits, the purpose of the experiment was to see whether or not the integration occurred. An examination of the therapeutic qualities of the infusion will form the next stage of the experiment.

“But we have proof of principle, and we are planning to use larger numbers of cells implanted in different sites of the heart to test whether we can restore function as well,” Professor Eduardo said.

“If the answer is yes, we could see the first phase of studies in people in later 2007,” he said.

As the undifferentiated cells of the body, stem cells are capable of forming specialized tissues, such as cardiac muscle.

Taking adult stem cells from a patient’s own heart could provide an alternative to using stem cells taken from a cloned human embryo.

Among other advantages, the transplanted tissue will not be rejected by the body’s immune system since the patient will be using his or her own cells. This will eliminate the need for potentially damaging drugs.

“The goal is to repair heart muscle weakened not only by heart attack but by heart failure, perhaps averting the need for heart transplants,” said Peter of the Hopkins’ Heart Institute.

“By using a patient’s own adult stem cell rather than a donor’s, there would be not risk of triggering an immune response that could cause rejection,” he said.

The results of the study were released yesterday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Routine stem cell therapies for certain types of heart disease will become a reality in 3-5 years according to Dr. Amit of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. All he has to do is succeed in his ongoing clinical trials using cell therapy in congestive heart failure.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made Amit the only individual in the entire nation to gain its endorsement to undertake clinical trials for treating heart patients by directly injecting adult stem cells into the heart. Bone marrow is the source of stem cells for the experiment.

The clinical trial for ‘Autologous Bone Marrow Progenitor Cell Treatment for Heart Failure,’ at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is lead by Dr. Amit. He is the director of the Center for Cardiac Cell Therapy at the university.

Amit has taken 5 volunteers who would eventually undergo heart transplantation after a few months and injected adult stem cells into the patients’ hearts. As routine as it is to harvest hearts from animals that are under trial, the same is close to reality for humans as well. Removing and studying the hearts that have been injected with adult stem cells a few months prior to transplantation is a possibility.

“This will give an opportunity to evaluate the mechanism of the cells delivered into the human heart,” he noted. “This is the primary endpoint of the study.”

In an earlier study he had shown that “Autologous stem cell transplantation led to significant improvement in cardiac function in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting for ischemic cardiomyopathy.”

Hearts that were removed 3-6 months after the stem cells were injected showed, “significant angiogenesis,” said Dr. Amit. Four hearts have been removed and examined since the trial started. “We are seeing growth of new blood vessels — angiogenesis,” he said.

So far all FDA approval has been for using adult stem cells for treating heart patients due to the ethical dilemmas surrounding embryonic stem cell research.