Geron study shows cardiomyocytes a promising treatment for heart attack

By Lisa Kerner

Erie, Pa., Feb. 22 - Geron Corp. presented study results showing that cardiomyocytes differentiated from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) survive, engraft and prevent heart failure when transplanted into an infarcted rat heart.

The results provide proof-of-concept that transplanted hESC-derived cardiomyocytes show promise as a treatment for myocardial infarction and heart failure, according to a company news release.

The studies were reported at the meeting on Molecular Mechanism of Cardiac Disease and Regeneration in Santa Fe, N.M.

In the studies, cardiomyocytes were produced from hESCs and injected into the left ventricular wall of rats. The rats had undergone reversible coronary ligation to produce myocardial infarctions, according to the release.

In one arm of the study, cardiomyocytes were injected with a combination of agents that increased their survival post transplantation. In another arm of the study, survival agents only, without cardiomyocytes, were administered.

Geron said comparative analysis at four weeks showed that animals that received both cells and survival agents had significantly improved heart function by echocardiography compared to animals that received survival agents alone.

"There are over 5 million patients with congestive heart failure in the United States alone and each year over 800,000 Americans suffer a heart attack," Geron president and chief executive officer Thomas B. Okarma said in the release.

The studies were performed by Drs. Michael LaFlamme, Charles Murry and colleagues at the University of Washington in collaboration with Geron scientists.

Geron is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for oncology and cell-based therapies for multiple chronic diseases. The company is based in Menlo Park, Calif.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.