Degradable Cardiac Patch with Immuno-modulatory function

心血管疾病（CVD）是世界上导致死亡的主要原因。具体来说，2012年，**心血管疾病在全球造成约1750万人死亡，在加拿大造成62000人死亡，使**加拿大经济损失超过212亿美元。心肌梗死或心脏病发作**是心血管疾病相关死亡的主要原因，由于心脏再生能力有限，导致不可逆的心肌损伤**。这最终会导致终末期心力衰竭，目前的治疗方法是心脏移植和心室辅助装置（vad）。然而，供体器官的短缺、VADs的高成本以及它们缺乏对所有患者类型的长期适用性是这些标准治疗的重大限制。组织工程和心脏组织的发展已成为修复和替换受损心肌的一种很有前途的方法，也是预防终末期心力衰竭的一种手段。在这个项目中，利用**Santerre实验室的生物材料专业知识和Bendeck实验室的心血管生物学专业知识（都在**多伦多大学）以及大学医院**网络Epelman博士实验室的临床专业知识，一种新型的可降解聚氨酯支架，使用一种已被证明可以调节植入后早期免疫反应的生物材料平台，将与来自脂肪干细胞的**心脏细胞相结合。为了开发一个功能性的、血管化的心脏贴片。将研究由此产生的工程贴片的性质、性能和存活时间，以获得它们在体内的益处。

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, costing**the Canadian economy more than $21.2 billion. Myocardial infarction or heart attacks**represent the main cause of CVD-related deaths, resulting in irreversible heart muscle**damage due to the limited regenerative capacity of the heart. This can ultimately lead to endstage**heart failure, which is currently treated using heart transplantation and ventricular assist**devices (VADs). However, a shortage of donor organs as well as the high cost of VADs and**their lack of long-term suitability for all patient types are significant limitations of these**standard treatments. Tissue engineering and the development of cardiac tissue has become**a promising method for the repair and replacement of damaged myocardium and a means of**preventing end-stage heart failure. In this project, and utilizing the biomaterial expertise of**Santerre lab and the cardiovascular biology expertise of the Bendeck lab (both at the**University of Toronto) and clinical expertise of the Dr. Epelman lab at the University Hospital**network, a novel degradable polyurethane scaffold, using a biomaterial platform that has been**shown to modulate the early immune response upon implantation, will be combined with**cardiac cells, which will be derived from adipose stem cells, in order to develop a functional**and vascularized cardiac patch. The properties, performance and survival of the resulting**engineered patch will studied for their in vivo benefit.