Chinese-developed cell therapy shows promise for severe heart failure

NANJING -- Chinese researchers have recently developed a novel cardiac cell therapy that helps repair damaged myocardium and improve heart function in patients with severe heart failure.

The therapy, pioneered by Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital in East China's Jiangsu province, uses lab-cultivated cardiomyocytes to replace necrotic heart tissue, enabling both vascular recanalization and myocardial regeneration.

"Bypass surgery can unblock vessels, but it cannot regrow dead myocardium," Professor Wang Dongjin, who led the research, told Xinhua. The new therapy, he added, is designed to solve this problem. "We wanted to inject new cardiomyocytes directly into the heart to replace dead muscle and restore function. It's like the old Chinese saying: you eat what you lack."

Long-term follow-up results of the clinical study were published on Aug 19 in Nature Medicine.

Twelve-month follow-up data showed that 90 percent of the patients who received the cell therapy recovered to New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II, reporting significant relief from shortness of breath and chest tightness during daily activities. In the bypass-only control group, this figure was 60 percent.

Patients in the cell therapy group also posted an average gain of 168.8 meters in the six-minute walk test, nearly double the control group's improvement. Cardiac pumping function diverged further: stroke volume increased in the treatment group but declined in the control group.

"For the first time, we have proven the therapy is safe," Wang said. Over the follow-up period, no patient developed tumors or sustained malignant arrhythmias. "We also confirmed that the transplanted cells beat in sync with the patient's own heart rhythm. That's a critical global validation."

The cell product used in the trial, HiCM-188, is an off-the-shelf therapy that can be produced and stored in standardized batches, bypassing the lengthy customization required for patient-specific cell products -- a critical advantage given that heart transplants are out of reach for most end-stage patients due to a chronic shortage of donors.

"Instead of patients waiting for cells, we want cells waiting for patients," Wang said. "That could fundamentally ease the donor shortage."

Industry experts said that despite the limited sample size, the rigorous randomized controlled design offers strong proof of concept, placing China's cardiac regenerative medicine among the global frontrunners.

With larger trials ahead, this homegrown therapy has the potential to reshape the treatment paradigm for severe heart failure and benefit a vast number of patients, according to the experts.