July 1, 2009
Dear Friend of the Texas Heart Institute,
We have all read about the promise of therapies that use adult human stem cells. The Texas Heart Institute has helped turn that promise into a reality. Our doctors already use these powerful cells to treat heart disease. Now, our researchers are looking for ways to use stem cells to ward off heart disease before it develops.
As you probably know, stem cells are found in virtually all human tissues, including the heart, the brain, blood, and bone marrow. Under the right conditions, these master cells can differentiate into specialized cells, such as heart muscle or the walls of blood vessels.
A team at the Institute's Stem Cell Center —led by Dr. Emerson C. Perin and me—was the first to treat severe heart failure with patients' own stem cells. In an early study with Brazilian colleagues, we harvested cells from patients' own bone marrows. We then separated out one of the various types of stem cells found in the bone marrow and injected these cells directly into injured heart tissue. The treatment proved safe and effective. Blood flow to the heart improved, the heart contracted better, and patients felt better.
Armed with the first objective evidence of the benefits of stem-cell therapy for coronary heart disease and severe heart failure, we continued that research at the Institute in a groundbreaking FDA-approved trial that further confirmed the safety and efficacy of stem-cell therapy.
Now, researchers at the Stem Cell Center are hard at work to answer the next round of questions. What types of adult stem cells are best? How should they be delivered? When? And what are the optimal doses? As the answers come in, we expect major advances in treatment.
One promising line of research uses stem cells known as MPCs ("mesenchymal precursor cells"). They have shown special potential in repairing tissues damaged by a heart attack. Another benefit is that MPCs don't trigger the auto-immune response, so we can use MPCs from third-party donors without fear of rejection by our patients.
In April 2008, we treated a patient with this therapy after a severe heart attack, the first time MPCs had ever been used in this way. Now the Institute is running two FDA-approved trials on the therapy—one for heart attack victims, the other for patients with chronic heart failure.
Where is this all leading? In time, we hope to find an optimal stem-cell regimen to help prevent, rather than merely to treat, heart disease. And in a coming Heart to Heart, I will tell you how we also use adult stem cells to treat severe blockages in arteries of the leg.
Our goal at Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is to discover new ways to improve patient care and prevent heart and vascular diseases. As always, we are grateful to our friends and supporters in the private sector who help make this possible.
For information about the Institute's research and educational programs—and to see how you can help—contact Marc Mattsson, our chief executive officer, at 832-355-3792 or mmattson@heart.thi.tmc.edu.
Respectfully yours,
James T. Willerson, MD
President and Medical Director
Contact Dr. Willerson
Read the first Heart to Heart from Dr. James T. Willerson
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