Stem cell-based therapy repairs damaged heart
A stem cell-based therapy has been shown to promote regeneration in damaged cells, offering hope to patients with heart failure.
In the latest advancement for regenerative cardiology, scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School (Singapore) have reported positive results for a stem cell therapy following a preclinical study. The team found that, following transplantation of stem-cell-derived cardiac progenitors into infarcted pig hearts, cardiac function improved and damaged tissue was restored.
Ischemic heart disease, which arises due to reduced blood flow to the heart muscle, accounts for a high proportion of deaths globally. Searching for ways to apply regenerative medicine methods to their research, the team turned to pluripotent stem cells. In the preclinical study, human pluripotent embryonic stem cells were differentiated into cardiac progenitor cells on a laminin matrix and were then transplanted into a region of the pigs’ hearts that had been damaged following a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.
Lynn Yap, first author of the study stated: “As early as four weeks after the injection, there was rapid engraftment, which means the body is accepting the transplanted stem cells.”
Immunohistology analysis revealed that the cardiac progenitor cells were able to expand to generate a muscle graft, as well as mature to develop into cardiomyocytes. The team also observed improvements to the ventricular wall thickness as well as a reduction in the size of the infarction.
While the team observed episodes of arrhythmia in some of the pigs, this was temporary and was often resolved without intervention. More specifically, the researchers showed that the transplanted cells were well tolerated with no tumor formation observed in all the pigs, a common issue faced with stem cell therapies.
A key contributor to the success of the study was the utilization of laminin during the differentiation stage. Laminin is a glycoprotein that promotes cell adhesion and is important in the interaction of the cell with the microenvironment.
The findings suggest that this technique could potentially be utilized to develop a safe cell therapy for patients with heart failure.
Karl Tryggvason, senior author of the study commented, “Our technology brings us a step closer to offering a new treatment for heart failure patients, who would otherwise live with diseased hearts and have slim chances of recovery. It will also have a major impact in the field of regenerative cardiology, by offering a tried-and-tested protocol that can restore damaged heart muscles while reducing the risk of adverse side effects.”