New method to treat cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases-cheap artificial cells

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UC San Francisco) said that gene-edited cell therapies can be used to successfully treat cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, which may pave the way for the development of cheaper cell therapies that currently have few viable options for treatment.

This study in mice is the first in the emerging field of regenerative cell therapy to show that special engineered induced pluripotent stem cell products called "HIP" cells can be successfully used to treat major diseases while avoiding the immune system

"We found that in mice with different tissue types, immuno-engineered HIP cells reliably evade immune rejection, which is similar to transplantation between unrelated human individuals

Deuse study is an example of "living body therapy (living therapeutics)" is

The research was published in "PNAS"

"Universal Stem Cells" Avoid Immunoassays

Scientists report that the prospect of cultivating special cells in petri dishes that can be transplanted into patients to treat various diseases is encouraging

The research team at the University of California, San Francisco took a different approach, using gene editing to create "universal stem cells" (called HIP cells) that are not recognized by the immune system, which can be used to create "universal cell therapy

The research team tested the ability of these cells to treat three major diseases affecting different organ systems: Peripheral artery disease α-1-antitrypsin deficiency caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Heart failure is increasingly becoming a global epidemic.

Scientists transplanted special and immuno-engineered mice into each of the above-mentioned diseases, and were able to prove that this cell therapy can alleviate the peripheral arterial disease of the hind limbs and prevent the mice suffering from α-1-antitrypsin deficiency.

In order to enhance the translatability of this proof-of-concept study, the researchers used standard parameters of human clinical trials focusing on results and organ function to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment

An affordable choice

Deuse is also the director of surgery for the transcatheter valve project and the director of minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

Deuse said that one of the biggest benefits of this approach is that the immunoengineering strategy has a reasonable price tag

Deuse said: "In order for a treatment to have a broad impact, it needs to be reasonably priced

Hypoimmune induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cell therapeutics treat cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases in immunocompetent allogeneic mice

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