Dr. Jai Maharaj
Blood treatment that activates immune system may help heart
failure patients
By Sheryl Ubelacker The Canadian Press Tuesday, June 29,
2004
Toronto (CP) - Canadian researchers hope to help patients
with debilitating and often deadly chronic heart failure
with an experimental treatment that involves removing a
small amount of blood, "stressing" it with heat, oxidation
and a zap of ultraviolet light, then injecting it back into
the patient.
Although a simple procedure involving just 10 millilitres
(two teaspoons) of blood, the therapy triggers a complex
immune response that earlier studies show halts the
inflammation associated with chronic heart failure that
progressively damages the body's major organ.
"Inflammation plays a pretty important role in the
development and progression of heart failure," said Dr.
Debra Isaac, director of heart transplants at Foothills
Medical Centre in Calgary. "And what the immune modulation
therapy does is it targets the destructive inflammatory
changes by activating the patient's own immune system and
increasing anti-inflammatory responses.
"So we're using the patient's own immune system to
counteract the bad effects of heart failure," Isaac said in
an interview from Calgary, where commencement of the study
was announced Tuesday.
Isaac is among a number of researchers in Canada and the
United States who will be conducting the study on 2,000
patients with chronic, or congestive, heart failure.
Participants will undergo the 20-minute blood-removal-
return treatment three times in the first month, then once a
month for about two years.
Isaac and fellow researchers at the University of Calgary's
faculty of medicine want to recruit 30 heart failure
patients for their part of the study, which also includes
sites in Montreal, Victoria, Halifax, Sacramento, Dallas
and Boston.
"It is critical that we slow down the inflammatory process
that is toxic to the heart," said Dr. Jean Rouleau of the
University of Montreal, principal investigator of the study
for Canada. "Our hope is that this potential treatment can
alleviate the serious side- effects of chronic heart failure
and treat the long-term damage being caused by the disease."
Chronic or congestive heart failure often occurs after heart
attacks and can leave a patient with severe shortness of
breath, profound fatigue and heart rhythm problems or cause
"sudden cardiac death," said Isaac. "They can have shortness
of breath to the point where they are literally drowning
(because of fluid build-up in the lungs)."
While drugs are used to control symptoms, Isaac said doctors
hope the experimental therapy will allow them to treat the
underlying causes of heart failure in a more aggressive way.
"My hope with the anti-inflammatory therapy is that we would
be able to reduce the progression of heart failure and
improve quality of life in patients," she said. "The body
repairs itself in many cases, and if we interfere with the
inflammatory response, we may allow a certain degree of
healing" and improve heart function.
While getting an injection in the butt can be a bit
uncomfortable, Isaac said, "there's definitely an attraction
in programming your own body's responses rather than just
adding more drugs."
The study is being funded by Vasogen Inc., a Mississauga,
Ont.-based company focused on the research and commercial
development of immune modulation therapies.
More at: http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=7B5B285E-31F7-
47E3-8141-5B9CE117134D
Jai Maharaj http://www.mantra.com/jai Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org (http://www.hindu.org/) http://www.hindunet.org (http://www.hindunet.org/)
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian
bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I
came not so send peace, but a sword. "For I am come to
set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law
against her mother in law. "And a man's foes shall be
they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have
been authored by, and do not necessarily represent
the opinion of the poster. The contents are protected
by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of
copyrighted works. o If you send private e-mail to
me, it will likely not be read, considered or
answered if it does not contain your full legal name,
current e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice
telephone number. o Posted for information and
discussion. Views expressed by others are not
necessarily those of the poster.
failure patients
By Sheryl Ubelacker The Canadian Press Tuesday, June 29,
2004
Toronto (CP) - Canadian researchers hope to help patients
with debilitating and often deadly chronic heart failure
with an experimental treatment that involves removing a
small amount of blood, "stressing" it with heat, oxidation
and a zap of ultraviolet light, then injecting it back into
the patient.
Although a simple procedure involving just 10 millilitres
(two teaspoons) of blood, the therapy triggers a complex
immune response that earlier studies show halts the
inflammation associated with chronic heart failure that
progressively damages the body's major organ.
"Inflammation plays a pretty important role in the
development and progression of heart failure," said Dr.
Debra Isaac, director of heart transplants at Foothills
Medical Centre in Calgary. "And what the immune modulation
therapy does is it targets the destructive inflammatory
changes by activating the patient's own immune system and
increasing anti-inflammatory responses.
"So we're using the patient's own immune system to
counteract the bad effects of heart failure," Isaac said in
an interview from Calgary, where commencement of the study
was announced Tuesday.
Isaac is among a number of researchers in Canada and the
United States who will be conducting the study on 2,000
patients with chronic, or congestive, heart failure.
Participants will undergo the 20-minute blood-removal-
return treatment three times in the first month, then once a
month for about two years.
Isaac and fellow researchers at the University of Calgary's
faculty of medicine want to recruit 30 heart failure
patients for their part of the study, which also includes
sites in Montreal, Victoria, Halifax, Sacramento, Dallas
and Boston.
"It is critical that we slow down the inflammatory process
that is toxic to the heart," said Dr. Jean Rouleau of the
University of Montreal, principal investigator of the study
for Canada. "Our hope is that this potential treatment can
alleviate the serious side- effects of chronic heart failure
and treat the long-term damage being caused by the disease."
Chronic or congestive heart failure often occurs after heart
attacks and can leave a patient with severe shortness of
breath, profound fatigue and heart rhythm problems or cause
"sudden cardiac death," said Isaac. "They can have shortness
of breath to the point where they are literally drowning
(because of fluid build-up in the lungs)."
While drugs are used to control symptoms, Isaac said doctors
hope the experimental therapy will allow them to treat the
underlying causes of heart failure in a more aggressive way.
"My hope with the anti-inflammatory therapy is that we would
be able to reduce the progression of heart failure and
improve quality of life in patients," she said. "The body
repairs itself in many cases, and if we interfere with the
inflammatory response, we may allow a certain degree of
healing" and improve heart function.
While getting an injection in the butt can be a bit
uncomfortable, Isaac said, "there's definitely an attraction
in programming your own body's responses rather than just
adding more drugs."
The study is being funded by Vasogen Inc., a Mississauga,
Ont.-based company focused on the research and commercial
development of immune modulation therapies.
More at: http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=7B5B285E-31F7-
47E3-8141-5B9CE117134D
Jai Maharaj http://www.mantra.com/jai Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org (http://www.hindu.org/) http://www.hindunet.org (http://www.hindunet.org/)
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian
bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I
came not so send peace, but a sword. "For I am come to
set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law
against her mother in law. "And a man's foes shall be
they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have
been authored by, and do not necessarily represent
the opinion of the poster. The contents are protected
by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of
copyrighted works. o If you send private e-mail to
me, it will likely not be read, considered or
answered if it does not contain your full legal name,
current e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice
telephone number. o Posted for information and
discussion. Views expressed by others are not
necessarily those of the poster.
