Bon Marrow Cells Repair Heart Damaged by Chagas Disease

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>Bone Marrow Cells Repair Heart Damaged by Chagas' Disease

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>ISIS Press Release 13/01/05

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>Bone Marrow Cells Repair Heart Damaged by Chagas' Disease

>*********************************************

>

>Dr. Lilian Joensen reports

>

>Two women whose hearts were severely damaged by Chagas'

>disease (see Box) showed remarkable recovery three months

>after stem cells from their own bone marrow were

>transplanted into their heart.

>

>

>_____

>

>Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite

>Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), which enters the body through

>broken skin. These can be introduced by infected blood-

>sucking `Assassin bugs' (which live in the cracks and

>crevices of poor-quality houses in rural areas), through

>transfusion with infected blood, or transmitted from

>infected mother to foetus. Usually a small sore develops

>where the parasite enters. Within a few days, fever and

>swollen lymph nodes may develop. This acute phase may cause

>illness and death, especially in young children. More

>commonly, the patients enter phase without symptoms, lasting

>several months or years, during which time the parasites

>invade most organs of the body, often causing damage to the

>heart, intestine and oesophagus, and progressive weakness.

>About 32% of those infected die from organ damages during

>the chronic phase.

>

>The geographical distribution of the human T. cruzi

>infection extends from Mexico to the South of Argentina. The

>disease affects 16-18 million people and some 100 million,

>i.e. about 25% of the population of Latin America is at risk

>of acquiring Chagas disease.

>

>_____

>

>In Argentina there are 2 300 000 people who contracted

>Chagas' disease, and at least 40 000 of them suffer from

>severe heart problems as a consequence of the disease.

>

>The new treatment on the two patients from San Juan Province

>offers much hope.

>

>So much so that the Secretariat of Science, Technology and

>Productive Innovation (SeCyT) has contributed 1 200 000

>pesos to a group of local medical doctors directed by Dr.

>Jorge Carlos Traianini at Presidente Perón Hospital in

>Avellaneda (Buenos Aires Province), so they can treat 50

>more patients from all over the country.

>

>Dr. Rubén Carrizo Páez, Chief of the Chagas Programme in

>Rawson Hospital in San Juan Province, could not believe his

>eyes when he saw one of his patients coming towards him. It

>was the same woman, who three months before, had to stop

>several times just to walk 300 metres to take the bus. But

>now, she was arriving by bike, after 5 kms of pedalling, and

>with no evidence of over-exertion.

>

>The 51 year-old patient, and another woman, a year younger

>with the same disease, are the only two Argentineans on whom

>the revolutionary therapy has been tried. This therapy

>promises to return the hearts of people with this disease to

>their full vigour and capacity to contract and deliver blood

>properly to the body.

>

>The therapy involves `autologous' transplant (where the

>donor is also the recipient) of stem cells from the bone

>marrow. The cells are delivered to the walls of the heart

>through a catheter to the coronary artery, where, after 50

>minutes, the cells start to find their way to the areas that

>are most fibrous and scarred, to repair the damage. It looks

>like magic, but it is not.

>

>This new treatment was initiated by Dr. Jorge Carlos

>Traianini, Chief of the Service of Cardiosurgery of

>Presidente Perón's Hospital in Buenos Aires Province, who,

>together with his team, co-ordinated by Dr. Noemí Lagos,

>have already performed 33 transplants of different kinds of

>stem and myoblast cells (muscle precursor cells) to severe

>cardiac lesions, including infarcts of long standing, with

>remarkable recovery of cardiovascular function.

>

>The new clinical trials involving 50 patients from all over

>the country, if successful, will make the treatment

>generally available to patients in no more than two and a

>half years. The intention is to make the treatment available

>at a cost as low as U$S 500.

>

> " In reality, we don't know why these stem cells help the

>heart muscles to work better, " said Dr. Lagos. " It is

>possible that new blood vessels are generated and also new

>muscle cells, but it is not clear. Our aim is to be able to

>know the intrinsic mechanisms of how this happens. But for

>now the clinical results overcome all known explanations " .

>

>Dr. Traianini added that, contrary to the traditional

>concept that the heart was an organ incapable of

>regeneration, the results show the opposite is the case;

>these new therapies take maximal advantage of this auto-

>repairing ability of the heart.

>

>Sources

>

> " Regeneración del tejido cardíaco en pacientes con

>cardiomiopatía chagásica, mediante el autotransplante de

>células madre de la médula ósea " . Fatala al día, año II, nro

>6, Diciembre 2004.

>

>http://www.anlis.gov.ar/INP/Fatalaaldia6.ppt

>

> " Crean una terapia para tratar el mal de Chagas " by Gabriela

>Navarra, La Nación, 10 December 2004.

>

>http://www.docmedical.com/novedades_veruna.asp?notid=2117

>

>

>

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>This article can be found on the I-SIS website at

>http://www.i-sis.org.uk/chagasDisease.php

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