STEM CELL ISOLATION, CULTIVATION, AND TRANSPLANTATION METHOD FOR TREATING HEART DISEASE

 

Market:  About one million Americans die of heart disease each year, and it was estimated that over 13 million US citizens have cardiovascular disease.  Peripheral artery disease is expected to effect 23 million people in developed countries by 2012 (Datamonitor).  Coronary artery disease is the number one cause of death in the US, and as such, the demand for therapeutics in this area is extreme.

Competitors and Current Problems:  Surgeries and drug interventions used to address heart muscle damaged by heart disease is not only expensive, but often not curative.  In critical situations where heart transplant is needed, the wait list is long with donors in short supply.  The best of all possibilities is for the damaged heart to actually heal.

The Technology:  Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston established and characterized a stem cell cloning method including isolation from multiple sources, cultivation, gene transfer, and transplantation to treat heart and vessel disease.  Work with the method in canines identified cells with characteristic surface and structural markers that can be used to treat ischemic heart failure and peripheral vascular disease.  The cells were shown to generate mature heart cells with contractility.  Transplanted cells were able to repopulate themselves in ischemic or infracted adult hearts.  This exciting invention provides a novel way to generate stem cells to replace dead and damaged heart cells and repair damaged heart tissue. The methodology for stem cell transfer is highly valuable for delivery into damaged tissues.

 

NON-CONFIDENTIAL TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION

The preceding is intended to be a non-confidential summary of a novel technology created at the University of Texas Health Science center at Houston (UTHSCH), for which the University has obtained patent protection. 

UTHSCH Ref. No. 2004-0032

Inventors: Drs. Geng and Willerson

Patent Status: Pending

License Available: world-wide; exclusive or non-exclusive

 

To obtain further information about this technology, please contact:
Office of Technology Management, 7000 Fannin, Suite 720, Houston, TX 77030
Phone: (713) 500-3369  Fax: (713) 500-0331
Email: uthsch-otm@uth.tmc.edu