Discover - USA (2020-01 & 2020-02)

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A healthy heart needs healthy vessels to pump

oxygen to the rest of the body. Cardiovascular

diseases can damage these vessels, and current

treatments — like grafting vessels from elsewhere in

a person’s body or from synthetic sources — come

with serious risks. But in March, a team of research-

ers announced in Science Translational Medicine

that they had made vessels in the lab that, once

transplanted into people, can turn into functionally

living tissue.

Researchers at Duke University, Yale University

and biotech company Humacyte collected cells from

cadavers — specifically, cells from muscles that make

up blood vessels and that form vessels’ inner lining.

They seeded these cells onto a biodegradable mesh

scaffold, where the cells created proteins to surround

the structure. Then, once the structure was built, the

scientists removed the cadaver cells, leaving behind

the new human acellular vessel (HAV), which mim-

ics a real artery or vein.

“The removal of the cells is important so that the

vessels can be manufactured in large batches and

stored on the shelf in operating rooms for implanta-

tion into any patient,” explains Heather Prichard,

chief operating officer at

Humacyte, who led the

research.

The trials were con-

ducted in end-stage

kidney failure patients.

The researchers found

that HAVs removed from

patients during routine

operations revealed the

patients’ own cells had

set up shop on the faux

vessel. And, they found

implanted HAVs that had

been damaged by dialysis needles were repaired by

the patient’s cells, suggesting the engineered vessels

are capable of self-healing.

If HAVs continue to perform well in clinical trials,

they could make blood vessel repair safer and more

effective in the future.

Abra-Cadaver! Blood

Vessels Come to Life

BY RONI DENGLER

New research suggests

a lab-grown vessel,

once implanted, is

accepted by the body

as its own — even

healing after damage,

as occurs during

repeated puncturing

from dialysis needles.

Scientists form vessel-shaped

biodegradable mesh scaffolds

in the lab.

They seed the scaffold with

human vascular cells, harvested

from cadaver donors.

The cells replicate and produce

the protein collagen, making a

fully formed blood vessel.

Researchers remove the cells

and the mesh dissolves, leaving

behind a generic vessel that can

be implanted into anyone.