Abstract 16448: Adult Human Cardiac Progenitor Cells Enhance Contractile Force in Human Engineered Cardiac Tissues

Introduction: Growing evidence supports the benefits of adult stem cells as a therapy for patients with heart disease. In Phase I clinical trials, intracoronary infusion of exogenous human cardiac progenitor cells (hCPCs) reduced infarct size and improved left ventricular ejection fraction. However, the specific contractile effects of hCPCs on host myocardium and the underlying mechanism of action remain poorly understood, limiting efforts to optimize therapeutic efficacy. Hypothesis: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that primary adult hCPCs directly enhance myocardial contractility through non-paracrine mechanisms using three-dimensional human engineered cardiac tissues (hECTs) as a species-specific in vitro model system. Methods: We fabricated hECTs with human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hCM) in a multi-tissue bioreactor system, and compared different hECT conditions including: 1) hECTs fabricated with hCM only (control); 2) hECTs supplemented with 10% hCPC (hCPCsup); an...