Myocardial infarction (MI) remains a dreadful disease around the world, causing irreversible sequelae that shorten life expectancy and reduce quality of life despite current treatment. Here, the authors engineered a cell-enriched myocardial graft, composed of a decellularized myocardial matrix refilled with adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells (EMG-ATDPC). Once applied over the infarcted area in the swine MI model, the EMG-ATDPC improved cardiac function, reduced infarct size, attenuated fibrosis progression, and promoted neovascularization of the ischemic myocardium. The beneficial effects exerted by the EMG-ATDPC and the absence of identified adverse side effects should facilitate its clinical translation as a novel MI therapy in humans.
Keywords: ATDPC, adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells; CMR, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; EMG, engineered myocardial graft; GFP, green fluorescent protein; IsoB4, isolectin B4; LV, left ventricle/ventricular; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; MI, myocardial infarction; SMA, smooth muscle actin; adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells; cTnI, cardiac troponin I; cardiac tissue engineering; decellularized myocardial scaffold; myocardial infarction; pATDPC, porcine adipose tissue-derived progenitor cell; pre-clinical model.