Adult Stem Cell Research: Hope for Healing Hearts

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By Michele Meyer and Rachel Martin
Illustration by Edmond Alexander

New research on adult stem cells may provide heart patients with exciting options. Stem-cell researcher Joshua Hare answered our questions.

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While using embryonic stem cells in medical research has been stymied by political controversy, doctors have discovered that adult stem cells may offer new hope to heart patients. Adult stem cells are early-stage, undifferentiated cells that have not developed a physiological function. They can be found in many parts of an adult’s body, including the heart.
           
Adult stem cells can grow and convert into different cell types for healing purposes, says Joshua Hare, M.D., of the University of Miami’s Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute.

Stem cells can transform into cells that can

• Feed oxygen to an injured heart to help healing
• Repair damaged heart muscle
• Help a heart beat stronger

Adult-stem-cell therapy can even be completely natural. Doctors one day hope to use a patient’s own cells, rather than donor cells, to replace his or her damaged ones. “Presumably, the heart (and immune system) would not reject them in any way because they’re from the same body,” Hare says.