Scientists Use Gene Therapy To Prevent Heart Arrhythmias from Stem Cell Transplants By :   on Jul 23 2005 10:15:56          Heart Arrhythmias Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins believe they have figured a way around a persistent barrier to successful adult stem cell therapy for millions of Americans who have survived a heart attack but remain at risk of dying from chronic heart failure. Two clinical trials since 2002 using transplanted adult stem cells successfully led to tissue regrowth in damaged hearts, but 11 of 18 patients later developed potentially fatal heart rhythm disturbances, including one who required cardiac resuscitation.  "It was a potential case of the cure being worse than the disease," says senior researcher and cardiovascular physiologist Eduardo Marbán, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chief of cardiology at The Johns Hopki

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