The target population for coronary artery bypass grafting is patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD). Our goal is to implement late-outgrowth endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from the peripheral blood of CAD patients (CAD-EPCs) as an autologous source for the endothelialization of small diameter synthetic vascular grafts and tissue engineered blood vessels. While CAD EPCs can be acquired readily and noninvasively, their extreme rarity in peripheral blood imposes a 4-6 week post-harvest lead time needed to expand the cells ex vivo before grafts can be endothelialized. We propose to reduce this duration to around two weeks through the design of an aptamer-based affinity capture device that can efficiently and specifically capture large numbers of CAD-EPCs directly from the bloodstream.
The aims of this R21 project are to (1) generate and (2) test the CAD-EPC capturing ability of both DNA- and RNA-based biorecognition aptamers, which will serve as the cell-capturing agents.

Public Health Relevance

Our goal is to implement late-outgrowth endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from the peripheral blood of CAD patients (CAD-EPCs) as an autologous source for the endothelialization of small diameter synthetic vascular grafts and tissue engineered blood vessels. We propose to design an aptamer-based affinity capture device that can efficiently and specifically capture large numbers of CAD-EPCs directly from the bloodstream.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
1R21EB017868-01
Application #
8621778
Study Section
Instrumentation and Systems Development Study Section (ISD)
Program Officer
Hunziker, Rosemarie
Project Start
2013-12-15
Project End
2015-11-30
Budget Start
2013-12-15
Budget End
2014-11-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$232,000
Indirect Cost
$57,000
Name
Duke University
Department
Biomedical Engineering
Type
Schools of Engineering
DUNS #
044387793
City
Durham
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27705
Fernandez, C E; Yen, R W; Perez, S M et al. (2016) Human Vascular Microphysiological System for in vitro Drug Screening. Sci Rep 6:21579