In Japan, a project led by Professor Yoshiki Sawa and colleagues at Osaka University, is aiming to use iPS cells in a clinical trial involving three patients suffering from ischemic heart disease – a coronary disease which manifests as inadequate oxygen intake by cardiac muscles. These cells, which originate from the iPS Cell Center Research and Application Biobank at Kyoto University, will be “initially harvested from donors with similar immunological profiles to the recipients in order to limit the risk of rejection”.
The project involves developing iPS cells into cardiomyocytes, cells which are specific to heart muscle, in order to “ensure greater efficacy in the treatment of severe heart diseases in particular”. “This technique should produce cells that are identical to those of cardiac muscle,” unlike previous experiments which used muscle cells harvested from the patient.
The project has yet to be validated in order to start during the first half of 2018.
Note from Gènéthique: this would be the second clinical trial involving iPS cells. The first, which was launched in Japan, seeks to treat age-related macular degeneration (see First Japanese patient receives donor iPS cells).
France diplomatie (27/07/2017)