Late-breaking data presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2021 shows that stem cell therapy can lower the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, and death in persons with chronic high-risk NYHA class II or III heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, hospitalization was not reduced.
Stem Cell Therapy Decreased CV Events & Death But Not Hospitalisation
The prime function of the heart is to pump blood to different organs as per their requirements. With age, the heart’s walls also weaken, which can trouble it to function as required, and over a period, it fails to perform the task. The experts focus on the well-being of the heart with different options.
Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s oxygen and nutrient requirements. In HFrEF, the heart muscle enlarges and weakens, reducing pumping power and causing fluid buildup in tissues. Inflammation has a big influence on how heart failure progresses over time.
This research looked into the effects of injecting stem cells (mesenchymal precursor cells) into the heart to treat chronic heart failure and inflammation. The researchers hypothesized that a single injection of stem cells from healthy adult donors combined with guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) for heart failure would reduce the number of times participants were hospitalized for heart failure events and the number of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths.
“Cell therapy has the potential to change how we treat heart failure,” says Emerson C. Perin M.D. Ph.D., the study’s lead author. “This study addresses the inflammatory aspects of heart failure which go mostly untreated despite significant pharmaceutical and device therapy development. Our findings indicate stem cell therapy may be considered for use in addition to standard guideline therapies.”
Participants were placed into two groups at random: A catheter was used to inject 150 million mesenchymal precursor cells, sometimes known as stem cells, into the hearts of 261 people. The remaining 276 adults were given a mock or scripted surgery. The mesenchymal progenitor cells were from healthy adult donors.
While the stem cell treatment did not result in a decrease in hospitalizations, it did have several other noteworthy outcomes. The following are some of the findings:
Throughout the study, those who received stem cell therapy experienced a 65 percent reduction in non-fatal heart attacks and strokes;
Stem cell therapy reduced the risk of non-fatal heart attacks and strokes by 79 percent in patients with high levels of inflammation (CRP levels of at least two mg/L).
As many as 80% of those with stem cell treatment for inflammation and less severe class II heart failure survived.
The New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification system was used to define heart failure. Patients are classified into one of four categories based on how much physical activity they are restricted to. Class, I heart failure has no restrictions on physical exercise, whereas class IV heart failure makes it unable to engage in any physical activity without pain.
“We were impressed to learn that stem cell treatment effects were additive to current standard heart failure treatments,” says Perin. “For the first time, the known anti-inflammatory mechanism of action of these cells may be linked to a cause-and-effect benefit in heart failure. The stem cells acted locally in the heart, and they also helped in blood vessels throughout the body.”
The study’s limitations include the use of routinely used outcomes in heart failure studies. Traditional endpoints associated with recurrent heart failure hospitalization, according to the findings, do not fully reveal the advantages or processes of these stem cells on heart attack stroke and death in chronic heart failure patients.
