Skeletal Muscle Cells May Repair Heart Damage

Doctors have transplanted skeletal muscle cells (autologous myoblasts) of a patient directly into the damaged area of his heart in the hope they will help repair the damage and strengthen heart contractions. Unlike skeletal muscle, heart muscle does not repair itself when damaged, so the damage is permanent.

This phase I trial has two goals. One is to test the feasibility and safety of transplanting these cells into patients' hearts. The other is to obtain preliminary information on the cells' survival and their potential for improving cardiac function. The principal co-investigators of the trial are Dr. Howard Eisen, medical director of Temple University Hospital (Philadelphia, PA, USA) and Dr. Satoshi Furukawa, surgical director of Temple's heart transplantation program.

After a muscle biopsy was taken from the patient's arm, the cells were transported to Diacrin, Inc. (Charlestown, MA, USA), where they were isolated and expanded in culture. About two weeks later, the cells were transplanted into the patient's heart during surgery to implant a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). The patient is now on an the LVAD device awaiting a heart transplant.

Diacrin is developing transplantable cells for the treatment of human diseases that are characterized by cell dysfunction or cell death and for which current therapies are either inadequate or nonexistent. The company has products under development for Parkinson's disease, stroke, focal epilepsy, intractable pain, spinal cord injury, liver failure, Huntington's disease, and macular degeneration.