X Prize may offer millions for stem cell breakthrough

Your intentions are good but you are missing the point. Adult or repair stem cells can create new tissue or bring necrotic tissue back to life...all within the body of the patient. There is no need for invasive surgical transplants of a laboratory grown organ.

For example, the heart...allow me to give you the briefest history of adult stem cell cardiac history.

1998 – Dr Doris Taylor takes stem cells from the thigh of a rabbit, injects them into scar tissue in the animal’s heart and repairs the damaged muscle. The research was published in Nature Medicine.

1998-1999 – French researchers transplanted muscle cells into a human heart.

2000 – Human studies and trials using adult stem cells to regrow muscle tissue, including cardiac muscle tissue, are performed in many countries around the world.

2002 – Dr Taylor herself witnessed in Rotterdam the first patient in the world to get stem cells injected through a catheter into the wall of the heart. Encouraging results began to come in—improved ejection fractions, reduced diameters, thicker muscle tissue.
AND NOW FOR THE REAL DEAL:

2004 – The first-ever commercial stem cell treatment center in the world starts adult stem cell treatment of hundreds of human patients. Results are amazing and include the regrowing of cardiac muscle tissue in patients, significant increases and sometimes a doubling of ejection fractions (the % volume of blood the heart can pump out per beat), etc! Stem cells are also recognized as “smart,” going to where they were needed most, creating micro-vessel bypasses around existing blockages areas, areas that previously were blocked and in areas where stents were implanted.

2005 – Advancements continue as Dr Taylor rinses rat hearts with detergent until the cells washed away and all that remained was a skeleton of tissue translucent as wax paper. She then injected the scaffold with fresh heart (stem) cells from newborn rats. Four days later, “We could see these little areas that were beginning to beat. By eight days, we could see the whole heart beating.” The experiment, reported in the journal Nature Medicine, marked the first time scientists had created a functioning heart in the lab from biological tissue.

2007 – In November 2007, James Eilert was treated via catheter using his own adult stem cells. In his own words:
In Jan 2006, when I was 34 years old I had a “widowmaker,”100 % blockage of the left ascending coronary artery. My ejection fraction (EF)was between 20 and 25 percent (55 is normal) and I was told that I had about 5 years left.
1 1/2 weeks after (treatment) I had an echo done and the completely dead apex was beating again – verrrrry weakly but it was moving.
6 months later- my sidewalls are now beating normally, my septum went from 100% damage to 30% damage. My Dr. says my heart is 50 percent more elastic than the year before adult stem cell therapy.
After 6 months – My total dead heart tissue is down to about 10 percent – and my EF is up to 50 percent!
James’ heart and health continues to improve and he pushes himself and his limits today, running regularly and biking 20 miles when he isn't working 7 days a week.
Summation:
James went from Class III congestive heart failure to Class I with an ejection fraction (EF) increase from ~20-25% to his current EF of 50%. His doctors have lifted all restrictions and limitations on his physical activities. Videos of his tests and results can be found on his facebook page.
James is only one of many adult stem cell treatment success stories.

2009 – Present day. There are currently dozens of stem cell treatment centers around the world (on at least 4 continents) who are using adult stem cells to treat cardiac disease in human patients and regrow both cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue and more. The Repair Stem Cell Institute tracks all of these treatment centers and ranks their quality and protocol effectiveness http://repairstemcells.org

To read more cardiac stem cell success stories: http://donmargolis.com/blog/index.php?s=cardiac

There are also over 400,000 scholarly papers on the use of adult stem cells to treat heart disease, many studies and a number of clinical trials.