German scientists developed a lab-made heart patch that shows promise in repairing damaged heart tissue, offering new hope to patients with severe heart failure, according to a recent study published in Nature. Led by Professor Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann from the University of Göttingen, the researchers demonstrated the heart patch's suitability for permanent reconstruction of the heart muscle in heart insufficiency.
Following successful tests on rats and rhesus monkeys, the researchers studied their approach on a 46-year-old woman with advanced heart failure. In 2021, after all possible treatments had been tried, she chose to have a heart patch implanted consisting of 400 million heart cells, which was placed on the outer surface of her heart. "During the three months following the implantation, her pumping capacity increased from 35% to 39%," explained Zimmermann to the German Press Agency, as reported by Focus Online.
Three months after receiving the heart patch, the patient underwent a heart transplant, allowing doctors to examine the repaired heart in detail. They confirmed that the patch had successfully integrated with the heart tissue, forming new blood vessels and contributing to improved cardiac function. The patient did not experience any side effects from the implant before undergoing the transplant.
The clinical study has now been expanded: 15 people have already received an implant, and a total of 53 are to be included, according to Bild. The heart patch aims to permanently increase the pumping capacity of the heart, with the ideal dose found to be about 800 million artificial heart muscle cells per patch.
The patches are created from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), reprogrammed from donor cells taken from blood. These cells are developed into heart muscle and connective tissue cells, which have the characteristics of the myocardium tissue of a four- to eight-year-old child, as reported by The Guardian. The heart muscle and connective tissue cells are incorporated into a collagen gel and grown in a custom-made mold to form the heart patch.
Professor Ingo Kutschka from the University Medical Center Göttingen, who participated in the study, expressed optimism about the potential of this technology. "Our ongoing clinical trial will hopefully demonstrate whether these engineered heart muscle grafts will improve cardiac function in our patients," he said.
Heart failure remains one of the leading causes of death globally, threatening the lives of 64 million people, with limited treatment options to reverse its progression. The scarcity of donor organs and the risks associated with artificial heart pumps highlight the urgent need for alternative treatments. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation estimates that only 5,000 heart replacement operations are performed each year worldwide.
The researchers emphasized that the patch not only improves cardiac function but also contributes to the regeneration of damaged tissue. The heart patch offers a solution, as it improves heart function through remuscularization—the formation of new cardiac muscle—and safely supports the heart's pumping function while contracting, strengthening, and thickening the heart wall.
"Our study demonstrates for the first time that the heart in a relevant animal model can be remuscularized by the implantation of engineered heart muscle, without safety concerns and with solid evidence for enhancement of heart function," Zimmermann stated, according to the Financial Times.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq