Scientists making progress in creating replacement arteries bank

Scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research are trying to create artery banks with readily-available material to replace diseased arteries during surgery. They have looked at a better way to grow smooth muscle cells from pluripotent stem cells, and have also identified a potential drug for reducing post-surgical risks in patients who undergo bypass surgery. Using a high throughput screen, the team identified a small molecule, RepSox, which had the best potential to produce cells with contractile properties.
James Thomson said: “We decided to focus on blood vessels because cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death worldwide. In the U.S. for example, heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 and No. 3 killers, respectively. And this work also has implications beyond making vessels for transplantation; it’s sort of a stepping stone to more advanced tissue engineering.”
Jue Zhang, lead author and a Morgridge associate scientist, said: “We wanted to have a protocol that can reduce the risk of intimal hyperplasia. It’s a common problem in smooth muscle cell differentiation, and if you want to make a useful artery, you don’t want that risk. Even after you have a bypass surgery, you can have some problems with your artery, like restenosis due to intimal hyperplasia. Currently there are only two FDA-approved drugs on the market, and they’re not cell-type specific, meaning they have side effects. We found that RepSox inhibits intimal hyperplasia and has fewer side effects. This cell type is better than previous efforts, but it’s still not mature yet. We need to induce these cells to become more mature, to be more similar to our native artery, to make it more functional.”