Grant Award Details
To test a novel therapeutic strategy for reducing chronic scar burden by targeting progenitors in scar tissue that replenish cellular and matrix components of scar tissue.
Progress Reports
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Grant Application Details
- Targeting progenitors in scar tissue to reduce chronic scar burden
Research Objective
Develop novel strategies to treat heart scars by targeting progenitors that replenish scars
Impact
There currently is no therapy for treating scar tissue in the heart or any other organ. Our proposal would lead to the development of targeted approaches to reduce scar burden.
Major Proposed Activities
- Identify progenitors in scar tissue (murine and human) that have the ability to self renew and replenish scars
- Determine dynamics of scar replenishment by scar progenitors
- Antigenic and functional characterization of progenitors in human and murine scar tissue
- Creating monoclonal antibodies to target scar progenitors
- To determine whether monoclonal antibodies can be used in vivo to target progenitors in scar to disrupt scar replenishment and reduce chronic scar burden
Every 30 seconds, someone in the United States including California suffers a heart attack and lost heart muscle is replaced by scar tissue. Scar tissue is irreversible and an independent predictor of mortality in patients with heart disease. Currently no therapies exist to reverse or retard scarring. In this proposal, we outline a novel therapeutic strategy to decrease chronic scar burden in the heart by targeting progenitor cells in scar tissue that self renew and replenish heart scars.
Publications
- Circ Res (2018) Topological Arrangement of Cardiac Fibroblasts Regulates Cellular Plasticity. (PubMed: 29691232)
- Cell Stem Cell (2017) Cardiac Fibroblasts Adopt Osteogenic Fates and Can Be Targeted to Attenuate Pathological Heart Calcification. (PubMed: 27867037)
- Am J Cardiol (2017) Prognostic Significance of Left Ventricular Fibrosis in Patients With Congenital Bicuspid Aortic Valve. (PubMed: 28802508)