A new study by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers shows promise for treating heart attack damage using genetically modified stem cells. The research, published in Circulation Research, demonstrates significant improvements in cardiac function and reduced infarct size in a pig model when treated with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte spheroids.
University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have found that heart attack recovery is aided by injection of heart muscle cell spheroids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). These spheroids are genetically modified to overexpress cyclin D2 and lack human leukocyte antigen classes I and II. This research, published in the journal Circulation Research, utilized a pig model of heart attack s.
Pigs possess hearts more similar to humans in size and function compared to mice, enhancing the clinical relevance of the findings. The team, led by Jianyi 'Jay' Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., and Lei Ye, M.D., Ph.D., generated these modified hiPSCs, termed KO/OEhiPSCs. When differentiated into cardiomyocyte spheroids and implanted into pig hearts experiencing ischemia/reperfusion injury, the KO/OEhiPSC-cardiomyocyte implantation resulted in significantly improved cardiac function and reduced infarct size after four weeks. Significantly, a surprising finding was the proliferation of endogenous heart muscle cells in the pig hearts. This is noteworthy because mammalian heart muscle cells typically lose their ability to divide shortly after birth, hindering the heart's natural repair capabilities after a heart attack.
HEART ATTACK STEM CELLS CARDIOMYOCYTE GENE THERAPY REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
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