Heart Failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) affects more than 40 million people globally. A common underlying feature of HFrEF is the loss of heart muscle tissue, which contributes to progressive functional decline due to the inability of the adult heart to regenerate. There are no available therapies that can replenish the lost tissue and restore function to the failing heart. This research seeks to develop a new approach to restore function to the failing heart using human heart tissue patches made from stem cells.
Impact
For the last 50 years, heart transplantation has remained the only treatment option for HFrEF patients in advanced disease. However, transplantation is limited by organ donor shortages, highlighting the urgent clinical need for safe and effective next-generation therapies.
This research seeks to transform outcomes for patients with HFrEF. Our product addresses a critical gap for patient treatment by providing a regenerative therapy with the potential to reduce hospitalisations, improve quality of life, and fundamentally alter disease progression by preventing or delaying the need for heart transplantation.
reNEW research
Our team have developed a novel technology to generate human heart tissue patches from stem cells that are surgically attached to the failing heart. These stem cell derived heart patches result in significant improvements in heart function in animal models. We now wish to transition towards clinical grade manufacturing and human clinical trials.
Image description
The image shows the heart of a mouse in heart failure treated with our human stem cell derived heart patch. The contractile cells of the mouse heart can be seen in purple. The human heart patch sits on the outside of the mouse heart in blue with the surgical stitch still present in yellow. After 28 days, blood vessels are seen in red throughout the tissues demonstrating the successful integration of the therapy with the mouse heart.
Credits
Hayley Pointer and Rebecca Sutton, Research Assistants, Dr Kevin Watt, Team Leader, Porrello and Elliott Lab, reNEW Melbourne.
