Cellprothera, an Alsatian biotech company, has revealed the first promising results of the ExCellent clinical trial, which aims to regenerate damaged heart tissue following a heart attack.
- After a heart attack, a patient may suffer from heart failure, which means that the heart has lost muscular strength and is no longer pumping enough blood to send oxygen to the organs.
- CellProthera, an Alsatian start-up, has developed a cell therapy that would regenerate damaged heart cells following a heart attack.
- The first results of the ExCellent clinical trial are promising.
Nearly 100,000 myocardial infarctions are recorded each year in France. Depending on the extent of the asphyxiated area and the speed of treatment, myocardial infarction can have various consequences. In particular, a patient may suffer from heart failure, meaning that the heart has lost muscular strength and no longer pumps enough blood to send oxygen to the organs.
Stem cells to regenerate damaged heart tissue
CellProtheraan Alsatian start-up, is working on a therapy to repair cells destroyed by a heart attack. The company recently presented the first results of its ExCellent clinical trial at the European Heart Failure Congress in Lisbonwhich took place from May 11 to 14.
“Cell therapies aim to repair areas of the heart damaged by a myocardial infarction, so that the muscle can return to normal cardiac function.”confided Professor Jérôme Roncalli – cardiologist at the Toulouse University Hospital (CHU) and principal investigator of the trial – to The DispatchAccording to the daily, researchers want to regenerate damaged heart tissue by injecting CD34 stem cells.
During the clinical trial, the investigation centers, including seven in France and six in Great Britain, included 49 patients, aged 55 to 60, who had suffered a severe myocardial infarction. Nearly 16 of the volunteers received standard treatment, i.e. reopening of the artery with stent placement, followed by drug treatment, while 33 received, in addition to standard treatment, treatment with ProtheraCytes, an innovative therapy drug developed by the Alsatian start-up CellProthera.
Cell therapy: “a significant reduction in the size of the area damaged by the infarction”
In this work, stem cells were taken from patients and then cultured for nine days to multiply. The cells then became “ProtheraCytes”, which were injected into the patients’ hearts via the femoral artery. These cells could participate in the revascularization and regeneration of cardiomyocytes, the cells of the heart muscle, and promote the repair process of damaged myocardial tissue.
The follow-up, using ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), lasted for six months. The scientists then observed that five out of 16 people in the control group were hospitalized for heart failure. “There was only one hospitalization for heart failure among the 33 patients who received CD34 cells. Above all, at six months, the MRI of the heart showed a significant reduction in the size of the area damaged by the infarction in these 33 patients: the treatment prevented the dilation of the heart and therefore the progression to heart failure. Similarly, the blood biological marker, which reflects the state of heart failure, decreased.”noted Professor Jérôme Roncalli.
