Exosomes instead of cells

The possibilities of cell-free therapy after a heart attack are open

Svetlana Maslova, High-tech+

The new approach shows the potential as an alternative to transplantation of full-fledged heart cells, which, in addition to rapid death in the body, also have many side effects. The results open up new possibilities of cell-free therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

In recent years, scientists have been studying the possibilities of transplanting heart cells grown from induced pluripotent stem cells to regenerate heart tissue after a heart attack. However, transplanted cells often do not take root and die in the body quickly enough. In addition, the risks of arrhythmia and cancer after such operations in the long term are still unknown.

Studying this problem, scientists decided to transplant only exosomes containing proteins and DNA, instead of whole cells, writes EurekAlert. They isolated exosomes from three types of human heart cells (smooth muscle, cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells) and injected them into the hearts of pigs after a heart attack.

After treatment with exosomes, pigs showed a significant restoration of heart function, as well as a smaller number of scars in the myocardium.

Similar results were achieved in the group after whole cell treatment, which allowed scientists to call exosome therapy an effective potential alternative.

"Cell–free exosomes will allow doctors to use the cardioprotective and reparative properties of cells, while avoiding problems with storage, transportation and rejection of cells," the authors said. Further studies should assess the condition of animals in the long term and prove the safety of therapy for humans.

Article by Gao et al. Exosomes secreted by hiPSC-derived cardiac cells improve recovery from myocardial infarction in swine is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine – VM.

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