02.09.2019S. Motta et al.: Human cell-derived tissue-engineered heart valve with integrated Valsalva sinuses: towards native-like transcatheter pulmonary valve replacements; new publication in npj Regenerative Medicine - Nature.

Transcatheter valve replacement indication is currently being extended to younger and lower-risk patients. However, transcatheter prostheses are still based on glutaraldehyde-fixed xenogeneic materials. Hence, they are prone to calcification and long-term structural degeneration, which are particularly accelerated in younger patients. Tissue-engineered heart valves based on decellularized in vitro grown tissue-engineered matrices (TEM) have been suggested as a valid alternative to currently used bioprostheses, showing good performance and remodeling capacity as transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR) in sheep. Here, we first describe the in vitro development of human cell-derived TEM (hTEM) and their application as tissue-engineered sinus valves (hTESVs), endowed with Valsalva sinuses for TPVR. The hTEM and hTESVs were systematically characterized in vitro by histology, immunofluorescence, and biochemical analyses, before they were evaluated in a pulse duplicator system under physiological pulmonary pressure conditions. Thereafter, transapical delivery of hTESVs was tested for feasibility and safety in a translational sheep model, achieving good valve performance and early cellular infiltration. This study demonstrates the principal feasibility of clinically relevant hTEM to manufacture hTESVs for TPVR.

The full article, published at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41536-019-0077-4 was written by Sarah E. Motta as part of her PhD project with the contribution of Valentina Lintas, Emanuela S. Fioretta, Petra E. Dijkman, Matilde Putti, Etem Caliskan, Héctor Rodriguez Cetina Biefer, Miriam Lipiski, Mareike Sauer, Nikola Cesarovic, Simon P. Hoerstrup & Maximilian Y. Emmert.