In experiments with mice and rats, the so-called stem cells grew into new muscle and blood vessels. So far, the treatment is limited to short-term experiments. But doctors said that if the approach continues to work, testing on humans could begin within three years. The idea is to harness a patient's own restorative powers to reverse the damage done by heart attacks, a leading killer throughout the industrialized world. The two new studies involve adult stem cells taken from bone marrow.
Stem cells are the body's building blocks for all types of tissue.
In recent years, research has increasingly shown that adult stem cells are remarkably adaptable and can repair disease damage. Other scientists who did not take part in the studies said they demonstrate the body's remarkable flexibility in how it responds to disease and injury. One of the new studies, conducted by researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., and New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., will appear in the April 5 issue of the journal Nature. The second study, conducted at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, appears in the April issue of Nature Medicine.