SBIR-STTR Award

The ability to create new cardiac tissue using progenitor cells via engraftment would be a significant advance. However, the existing types of progenitor cells presently in Phase I clinical trials face significant limitations, including lack of evidence that the donor cells (1) produce new cardiac myocytes, versus creating benefits via neoangiogenesis or ventricular remodeling, and (2) establish proper electrical connections to the cardiac tissue after grafting. These limitations are particularly true for bone-marrow derived stem cells and skeletal myoblasts, respectively. To overcome these limitations, Kardia Therapeutics, Inc. seeks to identify and isolate the human equivalent of the murine Sca-1 + adult cardiac progenitor cell for cardiac regeneration. Kardia founding scientists at Baylor College of Medicine discovered the murine Sca-1 + adult cardiac progenitor population, which have been found to be predisposed to cardiac differentiation in vitro and that have proven potential to become cardiac myocytes in vivo. Feasibility has been shown by proof-of-concept studies in a murine model, which show that the Sca-1 + cells home to injured myocardium, engraft without disrupting the normal tissue architecture, and show evidence of spatially appropriate gap junction formation at the points of contact with native heart muscle. In this Phase I STTR application, Kardia seeks to identify the equivalent adult cardiac progenitor cell population in humans. Although the Sca-1 surface marker is not expressed in higher mammals, Kardia believes it is feasible to identify the human Sca-1 + cardiac cell equivalent using its founders' proprietary knowledge of secondary surface markers that are consistent with a mesangioblast-like lineage and other characteristics of the murine Sca-1 + cells. The Specific Aims of the Phase I Research Plan are: 1. Identify and isolate the human equivalent of the murine Sca-1 + adult cardiac progenitor cell, using a combination of surface-expressed and readily assayable internal markers. 2. Perform the initial in vitro characterization of the human Sca-1 + adult cardiac cell equivalent, to demonstrate that the cells are suitable for further evaluation in a subsequent Phase II STTR program. If the Phase I Research Plan is successful, Kardia's Phase II Research Plan will perform the complete in vitro and in vivo functional characterization of the human Sca-1 + adult cardiac cell equivalent in an immunosuppressed mouse model, and later, in a larger mammalian recipient. Ultimately, clinical studies of the regeneration of cardiac tissue in patients with cardiac failure following myocardial infarction will be performed. If successful, this approach will lead to an innovative, therapeutically significant product for myocardial repair

This proposal is the Phase II renewal of an STTR award to Kardia Therapeutics undertaken in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine (the home to Kardia's founding scientists). The project will accelerate the development and commercialization of human heart-derived cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs), to promote more effective regenerative growth in human heart disease. Ultimately, the goal is to improve patient morbidity and mortality in acute myocardial infarction and chronic heart failure. The Applicants' research is aimed at the further development of CPCs, which were found to exist in humans on the basis of key similarities to the mouse cardiac cells defined by stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1). Phase I STTR support enabled the Applicants to begin translation of these findings to humans. The critical first step was successful preparation of the most auspicious subset-so-called "side population" cells-from human myocardium, resembling but distinct from the cells in bone marrow that account for most (if not all) long-term self-renewal and the fullest multi-lineage potential. The mission in Phase II is to obtain essential pre-clinical data-using the human CPCs for cardiac regeneration in immunodeficient or immunosuppressed recipient animals-to enhance the commercial potential of this strategy for heart repair. The Applicants' Specific Aims are to: 1. Assess the human CPCs' differentiation into cardiac muscle in culture, using treatments that trigger the cardiac phenotype in other precursor populations. 2. Assess the human CPC' differentiation into cardiac muscle in situ, following ischemia- reperfusion injury in immunodeficient mice. 3. Assess the human CPCs' differentiation into cardiac muscle in situ, following ischemia- reperfusion injury in immunosuppressed pigs. Thus, the critical objectives are to obtain vital proof that the human CPCs can be induced to create new cardiac myocytes, with specific emphasis on their fate when given as xenografted cells after experimental cardiac injury. Results of the proposed Phase II STTR studies will be pivotal to the commercial development of this potential therapy (autologous, at least initially), as well as pivotal to a successful FDA Biological IND filing.

Thesaurus Terms:
Cardiac Myocyte, Cardiovascular Disorder Therapy, Cell Differentiation, Cell Transplantation, Nonhuman Therapy Evaluation, Therapy Design /Development Cell Population Study, Immunosuppression, Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Myocardial Infarction, Myocardial Ischemia /Hypoxia, Stem Cell Nod Mouse, Clinical Research, Human Tissue, Swine, Tissue /Cell Culture, Xenotransplantation