Scientists have grown human blood vessels from cells taken from elderly patients in a ground-breaking experiment that could lead to new treatments for heart disease within the next decade. Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in developed countries. In the United States alone it accounts for more than 40 percent of all deaths. Growing new blood vessels from a patient's own cells would enable doctors to bypass clogged arteries in patients whose own vessels are not suitable. We took vascular cells from four elderly men with heart disease and engineered new blood vessels," said Dr. Laura Niklason, of Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C. The scientists, who reported their research in The Lancet medical journal, grew blood vessels in the laboratory from cells taken from four men aged 47-74 who were having coronary bypass surgery. Growing vessels from the patient's own cells should alleviate the problem of rejection by the patient's immune system. Although the blood vessels were not strong enough to be implanted in patients, the researchers said the study presents "a proof of principle." "We still have a couple of more stepping stones to get these vessels ... to be functional enough so they can survive in the patient," Niklason said in an interview. --More 1137 Local Time 0837 GMT
