The study, being funded by a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant totaling $1.4 million, will assess adult derived hemangioblasts (stem cells) in chronic ischemia, a serious form of heart disease. The first patient to take part in this trial was recently treated at University Hospitals of Cleveland.
The study is one of the first clinical trials in the US to evaluate the safety of delivering adult derived stem cells through a catheter into the coronary arteries of patients suffering from a condition in which one or more of the primary arteries supplying blood flow to the heart are clogged. This method was developed by scientists at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland.
The study will involve 10 patients who are not candidates for existing treatments such as angioplasty or stent placement.
“Traditionally, physicians have been able to prevent heart attack or alleviate its after-effects, but they have not figured out how to initiate the sort of blood vessel repair that remains a key to survival,” said Dr Mary Laughlin a hematologist at Case Western Reserve University. “Now there is promise of achieving that repair by infusing highly selected marrow stem cells.”