Mechanisms, optimisation and in vivo application of the vascular protective effects of mesenchymal stem cells
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are a type of stem cell that can be extracted from human tissue and grown to large numbers in the laboratory. Professor Gerard Nash and his team at the University of Birmingham have been studying MSCs and believe that these cells can modify the body’s damaging immune response to diseased blood vessels – this modification is called immunomodulation. With BHF funding, they have found that MSCs release chemicals that limit the immune system’s response to damaged blood vessels. This means that far fewer inflammatory white blood cells move to the blood vessel when it is injured. The BHF has now awarded the team a grant to investigate this immunomodulation in more detail. They will use their laboratory models of inflamed blood vessels to identify the best way to deliver MSCs to result in immunomodulation. Once they have established the best experimental conditions, they will then inject MSCs into mice to test whether they can dampen the immune response. This research may identify whether mesenchymal stem cells can be used to limit the body’s damaging immune response to heart injury.
Project details
| Grant amount | £190,454 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Project Grants |
| Application type | Project Grant |
| Start Date | 01 January 2015 |
| Duration | 3 years |
| Reference | PG/14/28/30774 |
| Status | Complete |
