Restoring blood supply to the limbs using a patient’s own stem cells

Biomaterial-based therapeutic neovascularization

Dr Richard Day and his colleagues at University College London are testing a new approach to restore blood supply to the limbs of people with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In people with PAD, there is a build-up of fatty deposits in the wall of the arteries supplying blood to the limbs. Severe obstruction of blood flow causes critical limb ischemia (CLI), which may require amputation. Severe PAD is treated with surgery - where the narrowed arteries are opened up or a healthy blood vessel is used to bypass the blockage. But not everyone is suitable for surgery. We need new treatments to improve the outlook for people with PAD. Dr Day has discovered that a type of stem cell, taken from a patient's own fat and grown on textured surfaces in the lab, releases chemicals that stimulate new blood vessel growth. In this project, he will test a new method for delivering these cells to diseased tissue so they can restore blood supply. He will attach the fat-derived stem cells to small degradable beads with the same textured surface to stimulate the release of chemicals that boost blood vessel growth. He will test if delivering these ‘blood vessel booster beads’ to areas of blocked blood supply can restore blood flow in a mouse model of PAD. If this new exciting new approach works, it could be translated into a treatment for people with peripheral arterial disease and other types of heart and circulatory disease, using their own cells.