Engineer Artificial Exosomes for Treating Myocardial Infarction
Description: Cardiovascular disease remains as the No. 1 killer in western societies. Currently, ischemic damage to the heart cannot be repaired by conventional medical care therefore only palliative treatments exist. Preclinical animal data and recently completed clinical trials have indicated that transplantation of adult stem cells such as cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) is a promising strategy for therapeutic cardiac regeneration. However, live cells must be carefully preserved to keep them alive and functioning until the time of transplant, and there are some risks involved in cell transplantation. The development of cell-free and non-living therapeutics (e.g. proteins, nucleic acids) derived from stem cells has the potential to revolutionize cardiovascular regenerative medicine. Mounting lines of evidence suggest that therapeutic stem cells (including CDCs) secrete paracrine factors that promote endogenous heart repair. Among those secreted substances, exosomes (EXOs) are secreted by a wide range of cell types including CDCs. We have shown that CDC EXOs are enriched with microRNAs (miRs) and they promote cardiac regeneration in mice with myocardial infraction (MI). AIM 1: Fabricate artEXOs (containing miR-146a, miR-22, miR-24, and miR-210) and determine their therapeutic benefits in a mouse model of acute MI. AIM 2: Unveil the molecular basis underlying the therapeutic benefits of artEXOs in the post-MI heart. AIM 3: Develop MI-targeted artEXOs for treating acute MI.
Funder: American Heart Association
Amount: $400,000
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Established Investigator Award
Start date: 2019-04-01
End date: 2024-03-31
Investigators: Ke Cheng, Ke Cheng
Institution: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
Funded outputs count: 38
Funder award ID: 19EIA34660286
OpenAlex ID: G6795468254