Degradable Cardiac Patch with Immuno-modulatory function

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the world. Specifically, in 2012,CVD was responsible for ~17.5 million deaths globally and 62,000 deaths in Canada, costingthe Canadian economy more than $21.2 billion. Myocardial infarction or heart attacksrepresent the main cause of CVD-related deaths, resulting in irreversible heart muscledamage due to the limited regenerative capacity of the heart. This can ultimately lead to endstageheart failure, which is currently treated using heart transplantation and ventricular assistdevices (VADs). However, a shortage of donor organs as well as the high cost of VADs andtheir lack of long-term suitability for all patient types are significant limitations of thesestandard treatments. Tissue engineering and the development of cardiac tissue has becomea promising method for the repair and replacement of damaged myocardium and a means ofpreventing end-stage heart failure. In this project, and utilizing the biomaterial expertise ofSanterre lab and the cardiovascular biology expertise of the Bendeck lab (both at theUniversity of Toronto) and clinical expertise of the Dr. Epelman lab at the University Hospitalnetwork, a novel degradable polyurethane scaffold, using a biomaterial platform that has beenshown to modulate the early immune response upon implantation, will be combined withcardiac cells, which will be derived from adipose stem cells, in order to develop a functionaland vascularized cardiac patch. The properties, performance and survival of the resultingengineered patch will studied for their in vivo benefit.