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California stem cell company Geron published a study in Nature Biotechnology that shows heart cells derived from embryonic stem cells improved heart function when injected into rats who had suffered heart failure.
A lengthy press release from the company says the study is the first to document (full text requires subscription) this phenomenon. Several hospitals and labs, however, have demonstrated similar success -- but in humans -- using "adult" stem cells.
(Full disclosure: The previous comment does not mean I favor adult stem cell research over embryonic. I believe embryonic stem cell research should be federally-funded and fully explored.)
After injecting the cells, scientists used echocardiograms and MRI to see that they'd achieved "significant improvement" heart function.
Geron's press release also says the paper also details its scalable production system for manufacturing the heart cells, called
"cardiomyocytes."
Geron’s scientists collaborated on the research with Charles Murry and Michael Laflamme at the University of Washington. Tom Okarma, the company's blustery CEO, said in the press release that he expects this treatment to be the second human embyronic stem cell treatment to enter human clinical trials, presumably after the spinal cord injury treatment about which we've written copiously.
