Grow-your-own organs
1. Researchers build a biodegradable scaffolding shaped like the organ.
2. They then “seed” the scaffolding with cells from the patient (bladder cells for a bladder, liver cells for a liver, etc.).
3. The scaffolding is incubated and allowed to grow until the scaffold biodegrades and the organ can be transplanted into the patient.
3
2
1
8 hours before transplantation, practically doubling the
time an organ can be viable.
“The technology could allow organs to travel greater distances and allow us to expand the potential donor pool, making more hearts available for transplant,” Ardehali says. Phase
II trials are now under way, with plans to enroll 128 patients
by the end of 2012. If final results are positive, the new system
will take the next critical step toward FDA approval—larger
phase III trials—and could debut in several years.
Stem cells for heart and arteries
Think stem cells and you probably think of the controversial embryonic variety. But autologous “adult” stem
cells—those derived from a patient’s own body—promise
to revolutionize the treatment of some cardiac conditions,
minus the tricky ethical issues. These cells are taken from
a patient’s bone marrow, multiplied in a lab, and injected
back into the patient’s bloodstream or directly into damaged heart muscle.
Stem cells could be a godsend for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), a severe form of vascular disease,
often affecting the legs, that afflicts about 8 million Americans, 90 percent of whom are over 50. In severe cases the
blood vessels of PAD patients may become so clogged that
major surgery or even amputation is required. “If you get
a diagnosis of PAD, your life expectancy is worse than for
many types of cancer,” says researcher William Marston,
M.D., chief of vascular surgery at the University of North
Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.
Early studies suggest that stem cell treatments may
reduce the number of amputations and help wounds heal,
2
3
1
Magnets
for depression
relief
1. A computer
sends electrical
currents to a treat-
ment coil placed
around the patient’s
head.
2. The treat-
ment coil converts
those electrical
currents into an
MRI-strength
magnetic field.
3. The magnetic field
stimulates neurons
in the part of the
brain—the prefrontal
cortex—linked
to depression.
possibly by helping generate a new network of healthy
blood vessels to resupply the limbs. “We think stem cells
may serve a number of functions—reduce inflammation,
recruit other cells to carry out repairs, and even transform into the actual cells that populate new capillaries,”
Marston says.
The treatment is beginning phase III trials—the final
phase before FDA approval. But researchers will need time
to collect and analyze the data. “If the results continue to
be positive and there are no safety issues, we would hope
for approval in the next three to five years,” Marston says.
New breast cancer drugs
They’re like smart bombs for fighting breast cancer: new
medications that attack cancer cells while leaving healthy
cells relatively unscathed. They’re called PARP inhibitors,
and they target an enzyme that helps cancer cells repair
themselves after chemotherapy.
“These drugs represent an entirely new way of treating
breast cancer,” says Nicholas Turner, M. D., senior lecturer
and honorary consultant at Britain’s Institute of Cancer
Research.
Early studies suggest that PARP inhibitors can effectively
fight triple-negative breast cancer, responsible for around
15 percent of breast cancer cases. Tumors of these cancers
lack receptors for estrogen, progesterone, or HER- 2, characteristics that current medications target. Data from Baylor
Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas showed that patients
who got the PARP inhibitor iniparib along with chemotherapy had a 52 percent response rate, compared with 32
percent among those who received chemotherapy alone.
AARP.ORG/MAGAZINE 65
