Browsing by Author "Willerson, James T."

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    Allogeneic Mesenchymal Cell Therapy in Anthracycline-Induced Cardiomyopathy Heart Failure Patients
    (Elsevier, 2020-11) Bolli, Roberto; Perin, Emerson C.; Willerson, James T.; Yang, Phillip C.; Traverse, Jay H.; Henry, Timothy D.; Pepine, Carl J.; Mitrani, Raul D.; Hare, Joshua M.; Murphy, Michael P.; March, Keith L.; Ikram, Sohail; Lee, David P.; O’Brien, Connor; Durand, Jean-Bernard; Miller, Kathy; Lima, Joao A.; Ostovaneh, Mohammad R.; Ambale-Venkatesh, Bharath; Gee, Adrian P.; Richman, Sara; Taylor, Doris A.; Sayre, Shelly L.; Bettencourt, Judy; Vojvodic, Rachel W.; Cohen, Michelle L.; Simpson, Lara M.; Lai, Dejian; Aguilar, David; Loghin, Catalin; Moyé, Lem; Ebert, Ray F.; Davis, Barry R.; Simari, Robert D.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Background: Anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy (AIC) may be irreversible with a poor prognosis, disproportionately affecting women and young adults. Administration of allogeneic bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (allo-MSCs) is a promising approach to heart failure (HF) treatment. Objectives: SENECA (Stem Cell Injection in Cancer Survivors) was a phase 1 study of allo-MSCs in AIC. Methods: Cancer survivors with chronic AIC (mean age 56.6 years; 68% women; NT-proBNP 1,426 pg/ml; 6 enrolled in an open-label, lead-in phase and 31 subjects randomized 1:1) received 1 × 108 allo-MSCs or vehicle transendocardially. Primary objectives were safety and feasibility. Secondary efficacy measures included cardiac function and structure measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), functional capacity, quality of life (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire), and biomarkers. Results: A total of 97% of subjects underwent successful study product injections; all allo-MSC-assigned subjects received the target dose of cells. Follow-up visits were well-attended (92%) with successful collection of endpoints in 94% at the 1-year visit. Although 58% of subjects had non-CMR compatible devices, CMR endpoints were successfully collected in 84% of subjects imaged at 1 year. No new tumors were reported. There were no significant differences between allo-MSC and vehicle groups with regard to clinical outcomes. Secondary measures included 6-min walk test (p = 0.056) and Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire score (p = 0.048), which tended to favor the allo-MSC group. Conclusions: In this first-in-human study of cell therapy in patients with AIC, transendocardial administration of allo-MSCs appears safe and feasible, and CMR was successfully performed in the majority of the HF patients with devices. This study lays the groundwork for phase 2 trials aimed at assessing efficacy of cell therapy in patients with AIC.
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    Identification of Bone Marrow Cell Subpopulations Associated With Improved Functional Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Left Ventricular Dysfunction: An Embedded Cohort Evaluation of the FOCUS-CCTRN Trial
    (SAGE Publications, 2016) Taylor, Doris A.; Perin, Emerson C.; Willerson, James T.; Zierold, Claudia; Resende, Micheline; Carlson, Marjorie; Nestor, Belinda; Wise, Elizabeth; Orozco, Aaron; Pepine, Carl J.; Henry, Timothy D.; Ellis, Stephen G.; Zhao, David X. M.; Traverse, Jay H.; Cooke, John P.; Schutt, Robert C.; Bhatnagar, Aruni; Grant, Maria B.; Lai, Dejian; Johnstone, Brian H.; Sayre, Shelly L.; Moyé, Lem; Ebert, Ray F.; Bolli, Roberto; Simari, Robert D.; Cogle, Christopher R.; Department of Medicine, School of Medicine
    In the current study, we sought to identify bone marrow-derived mononuclear cell (BM-MNC) subpopulations associated with a combined improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV), and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) in patients with chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy 6 months after receiving transendocardial injections of autologous BM-MNCs or placebo. For this prospectively planned analysis, we conducted an embedded cohort study comprising 78 patients from the FOCUS-Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN) trial. Baseline BM-MNC immunophenotypes and progenitor cell activity were determined by flow cytometry and colony-forming assays, respectively. Previously stable patients who demonstrated improvement in LVEF, LVESV, and VO2 max during the 6-month course of the FOCUS-CCTRN study (group 1, n = 17) were compared to those who showed no change or worsened in one to three of these endpoints (group 2, n = 61) and to a subset of patients from group 2 who declined in all three functional endpoints (group 2A, n = 11). Group 1 had higher frequencies of B-cell and CXCR4(+) BM-MNC subpopulations at study baseline than group 2 or 2A. Furthermore, patients in group 1 had fewer endothelial colony-forming cells and monocytes/macrophages in their bone marrow than those in group 2A. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, certain bone marrow-derived cell subsets are associated with improvement in LVEF, LVESV, and VO2 max at 6 months. These results suggest that the presence of both progenitor and immune cell populations in the bone marrow may influence the natural history of chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy-even in stable patients. Thus, it may be important to consider the bone marrow composition and associated regenerative capacity of patients when assigning them to treatment groups and evaluating the results of cell therapy trials.
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    A Phase II study of autologous mesenchymal stromal cells and c-kit positive cardiac cells, alone or in combination, in patients with ischaemic heart failure: the CCTRN CONCERT-HF trial
    (Wiley, 2021-04) Bolli, Roberto; Mitrani, Raul D.; Hare, Joshua M.; Pepine, Carl J.; Perin, Emerson C.; Willerson, James T.; Traverse, Jay H.; Henry, Timothy D.; Yang, Phillip C.; Murphy, Michael P.; March, Keith L.; Schulman, Ivonne H.; Ikram, Sohail; Lee, David P.; O’Brien, Connor; Lima, Joao A.; Ostovaneh, Mohammad R.; Ambale-Venkatesh, Bharath; Lewis, Gregory; Khan, Aisha; Bacallao, Ketty; Valasaki, Krystalenia; Longsomboon, Bangon; Gee, Adrian P.; Richman, Sara; Taylor, Doris A.; Lai, Dejian; Sayre, Shelly L.; Bettencourt, Judy; Vojvodic, Rachel W.; Cohen, Michelle L.; Simpson, Lara; Aguilar, David; Loghin, Catalin; Moyé, Lem; Ebert, Ray F.; Davis, Barry R.; Simari, Robert D.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Aims: CONCERT-HF is an NHLBI-sponsored, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase II trial designed to determine whether treatment with autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and c-kit positive cardiac cells (CPCs), given alone or in combination, is feasible, safe, and beneficial in patients with heart failure (HF) caused by ischaemic cardiomyopathy. Methods and results: Patients were randomized (1:1:1:1) to transendocardial injection of MSCs combined with CPCs, MSCs alone, CPCs alone, or placebo, and followed for 12 months. Seven centres enrolled 125 participants with left ventricular ejection fraction of 28.6 ± 6.1% and scar size 19.4 ± 5.8%, in New York Heart Association class II or III. The proportion of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) was significantly decreased by CPCs alone (-22% vs. placebo, P = 0.043). Quality of life (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire score) was significantly improved by MSCs alone (P = 0.050) and MSCs + CPCs (P = 0.023) vs. placebo. Left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular volumes, scar size, 6-min walking distance, and peak oxygen consumption did not differ significantly among groups. Conclusions: This is the first multicentre trial assessing CPCs and a combination of two cell types from different tissues in HF patients. The results show that treatment is safe and feasible. Even with maximal guideline-directed therapy, both CPCs and MSCs were associated with improved clinical outcomes (MACE and quality of life, respectively) in ischaemic HF without affecting left ventricular function or structure, suggesting possible systemic or paracrine cellular mechanisms. Combining MSCs with CPCs was associated with improvement in both these outcomes. These results suggest potential important beneficial effects of CPCs and MSCs and support further investigation in HF patients.
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    Rationale and Design of the SENECA (StEm cell iNjECtion in cAncer survivors) Trial
    (Elsevier, 2018) Bolli, Roberto; Hare, Joshua M.; Henry, Timothy D.; Lenneman, Carrie G.; March, Keith; Miller, Kathy; Pepine, Carl J.; Perin, Emerson C.; Traverse, Jay H.; Willerson, James T.; Yang, Phillip C.; Gee, Adrian P.; Lima, João A.; Moyé, Lem; Vojvodic, Rachel W.; Sayre, Shelly L.; Bettencourt, Judy; Cohen, Michelle; Ebert, Ray F.; Simari, Robert; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Objectives SENECA (StEm cell iNjECtion in cAncer survivors) is a phase I, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the safety and feasibility of delivering allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (allo-MSCs) transendocardially in subjects with anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy (AIC). Background AIC is an incurable and often fatal syndrome, with a prognosis worse than that of ischemic or nonischemic cardiomyopathy. Recently, cell therapy with MSCs has emerged as a promising new approach to repair damaged myocardium. Methods The study population is 36 cancer survivors with a diagnosis of AIC, left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction ≤40%, and symptoms of heart failure (NYHA class II-III) on optimally-tolerated medical therapy. Subjects must be clinically free of cancer for at least two years with a ≤ 30% estimated five-year risk of recurrence. The first six subjects participated in an open-label, lead-in phase and received 100 million allo-MSCs; the remaining 30 will be randomized 1:1 to receive allo-MSCs or vehicle via 20 transendocardial injections. Efficacy measures (obtained at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months) include MRI evaluation of LV function, LV volumes, fibrosis, and scar burden; assessment of exercise tolerance (six-minute walk test) and quality of life (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire); clinical outcomes (MACE and cumulative days alive and out of hospital); and biomarkers of heart failure (NT-proBNP). Conclusions This is the first clinical trial using direct cardiac injection of cells for the treatment of AIC. If administration of allo-MSCs is found feasible and safe, SENECA will pave the way for larger phase II/III studies with therapeutic efficacy as the primary outcome.