IPSC-EHT transplantation for cardiac repair – towards first-in-patient

End-stage heart failure patients suffer from high mortality rates and have very limited treatment options. The availability of cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) opens the possibility of allogeneic transplantation of new heart muscle mass. A recent study gives compelling evidence that transplantation of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in the form of engineered heart tissue (EHT) improves cardiac function in a guinea pig myocardial infarction model. To pave the way for a first clinical trial, two critical issues will be addressed: 1) determination of the minimal effective dose/size in guinea pig and 2) translation to a large animal model (minipig myocardial infarction). Major endpoints are the therapeutic efficacy of small doses/sizes of EHTs in guinea pig myocardial infarction model, survival and growth of EHT in minipig under optimized immunosuppression and therapeutic efficacy in minipig.