Hepatocyte growth factor-transfected skeletal myoblasts to limit the development of postinfarction heart failure

Stem cells transplanted to an injured heart affect the host myocardium indirectly. The cytokine hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) may play a key role in this paracrine activity. We hypothesized that HGF-overexpressing stem cells would restore cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI). Because there is a high rate of cell death when injecting the cells intramyocardially, we used scaffold-based cell transfer. Skeletal myoblasts (SkMs) were isolated and expanded from newborn Lewis rats. Cells were transfected with pcDNA3-huHGF and seeded on polyurethane (PU) scaffolds or diluted in medium for cell injection. The seeded scaffolds were transplanted in rats two weeks after MI (group: PU-HGF-SkM) or the infection solution was intramyocardially injected (group: Inj-HGF-SkM). Two groups (Inj-SkM and PU-SkM) have been prepared with untransfected cells and sham group without any cell therapy served as control (n = 10 each group). At the beginning of treatment (baseline) and six weeks later, hemodynamic parameters were assessed. At the end of the study, histological analysis was employed. In sham animals we detected a decrease in systolic and diastolic function during the observation time. Treatment with untransfected myoblasts did not lead to any significant changes in hemodynamic parameters between the intervention and six weeks later. In group PU-HGF-SkM, systolic parameters like dP/dt(max), dP/dt(min) and isovolumic contraction improved significantly from baseline to study end. Some diastolic parameters were inferior as compared to baseline (SB-Ked, pressure half time [PHT], Tau). In group Inj-HGF-SkM, only PHT was impaired as compared to preinterventional values. Histological analysis showed significantly more capillaries in the infarction border zone in groups PU-HGF-SkM than in sham and Inj-SkM group. The infarction size was not affected by the therapy. Transplanting HGF-transfected myoblasts after MI can limit the development of ventricular dysfunction. Scaffold-based therapy in combination with gene therapy accelerates this capacity. This hemodynamic amelioration is accompanied by neovascularization, but not by smaller infarction sizes.