Regenerative medicine is a relatively new concept in the U.S., although research into the use of stem cells to treat disease is more established in Europe. Since stem cells have the ability to differentiate into any type of cell, they have the potential to foster the repair of damaged tissue. As such, stem cell therapy offers great promise in the development of medical treatments for a wide range of conditionsincluding heart attacks.

"When someone has a heart attack, we shift into maintenance mode by prescribing medicines and other treatments to prevent another heart attack, but we can't reverse the damage that's already done," said Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Latif, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky's Gill Heart Institute. "With all of our advances in cardiovascular medicine, there is currently only one approved way to repair damaged heart tissue after a heart attack: with a heart transplant."

An average of21 peopledie every day in the U.S. waiting for an organ transplant, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the Gift of Life Donor Program.Clearly, transplant isn't a very elegant solution due to the limited number of donor hearts available and the lifetime of maintenance required to avoid complications post-transplantation, Latif said. Furthermore, heart transplants often aren't a viable option for the very sick or those with co-morbidities such as pulmonary hypertension. But stem cells which have the potential to grow into a variety of heart cell types might repair and regenerate damaged heart tissue, and research at the Gill Heart Institute is looking into that concept.

"There are very few U.S. centers offering regenerative medicine for cardiovascular disease," Latifsaid. "We are an active lab with a full spectrum of studies exploring translational opportunities for stem cell therapy."

One such study, called ALLSTAR (ALLogenic cardiac Stem cells to Achieve myocardial Regeneration) is looking into the possibility that stem cell therapy can repair damaged heart tissue after a recent heart attack. These patients often suffer long-term consequences of their heart attack, slipping into heart failure and potentially requiring an expensive and risky heart transplant.

Eric Mason is one of the first patients to enroll in the ALLSTAR trial at the Gill. He was just 35 years old when he had a life-threatening heart attack.

"In order for the heart to function properly, it needs to be supplied with sufficient amounts of oxygen-rich blood," Latif said. "The left coronary artery is tasked with this responsibility as it supplies blood to large areas of the heart. When this artery becomes blocked, it will cause a massiveattack that will likely lead to sudden death."

Mason had blockages in all three of his arteries80 percent, 90 percent and, in the left coronary artery, 100 percent. His type of heart attack is nicknamed "the widow maker" because so few patients survive.

Luckily, Eric's wife, Misty, was alert and acted quickly.

"Eric's father died of a heart attack at age 41, and Eric's symptoms were the same as a friend of ours who also had a heart attack," Misty Mason said. "So when he called to tell me it felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest, I told him to take two baby aspirin and get to the emergency room."

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