Horses lead humans in stem cells race

By Ben Hirschler

NORTH MYMMS (Reuters) - Professor Roger Smith examines a small vial of straw-colored liquid containing millions of stem cells before filling his syringe.

His "patient" -- a nine-year-old thoroughbred bay gelding -- stands above him, sedated but still conscious, while Smith guides the needle into a damaged tendon on its foreleg.

An ultrasound monitor tracks the stem cells bubbling through the tissue and in a few minutes it is all over. The leg is bandaged and the horse led back to stables.

Stem cell therapy may be controversial in human medicine but in the world of horse racing it is becoming the odds-on favorite for tackling tendon damage, which accounts for one in three racecourse injuries.

Soon the same technology could be applied to humans.

Smith, who is professor of equine orthopedics at the Royal Veterinary College north of London, believes there is every chance his pioneering technique to get horses back on form will work in human athletes too.

"Horses are a really good model of human tendencies," he said.

VetCell BioScience Ltd, a spin-off from the college that Smith helped set up, is already working with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London on protocols for human clinical trials, which could start by the end of the year.