Clinical trial NCT00629018
Conditions: Dilated Cardiomyopathy
Keywords: Stem Cells Heart Failure Dilated Cardiomyopathy
Sponsor: University Medical Centre Ljubljana
Start date: 2006-05-01; Completion date: 2013-04-01
Enrollment: 110 participants; Allocation: RANDOMIZED; Intervention model: PARALLEL

Brief summary:
Several studies have documented that transplantation of bone marrow-derived cells (BMC) following acute myocardial infarction is associated with a reduction in infarct scar size and improvements in left ventricular function and perfusion. The available evidence in humans suggests that BMC transplantation is associated with improvements in physiologic and anatomic parameters in both acute myocardial infarction and chronic ischemic heart disease, above and beyond the conventional therapy. In particular, intracoronary application of BMC is proved to be safe and was associated with significant improvement in the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in patients with chronic heart failure.

In contrast to ischemic heart failure, the data on effects of BMC transplantation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy are limited to pre-clinical studies. In a rat model of dilated cardiomyopathy, intramyocardial delivery of pluripotent mesenchymal cells improved LVEF, possibly through induction of myogenesis and angiogenesis, as well as by inhibition of myocardial fibrosis, suggesting that the beneficial effects of stem cell transplantation in dilated cardiomyopathy may primarily be related to their ability to supply large amounts of angiogenic, antiapoptotic, and mitogenic factors. Similarly, transplantation of cocultured mesenchymal stem cells and skeletal myoblasts was shown to improve LVEF in a murine model of Chagas disease.

Study Aim:

To define the clinical effects of BMC transplantation in dilated cardiomyopathy in a pilot clinical study investigating the effects of intracoronary CD34+ cell transplantation on functional, structural, neurohormonal, and electrophysiologic parameters in patients with end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy.

Detailed description:
Patients were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to receive intracoronary transplantation of autologous CD34+ stem cells (SC group) or no intracoronary infusion (control group). At the time of enrollment, and at yearly intervals thereafter, we performed detailed clinical evaluation, echocardiography, 6-minute walk test, and measured plasma levels of NT-proBNP. To better-define the potential role of inflammatory response, we also measured plasma inflammatory markers (tumor necrosis factor \[TNF\]-α and interleukin \[IL\]-6) at the time of CD34+ stem cell injection.

Arms: arm 1: SC therapy,'Bone Marrow Stimulation','CD34+ autologous stem cell transplantation':

In the SC group, CD34+ cells were mobilized by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and collected via apheresis. Patients underwent myocardial scintigraphy and cells were injected in the artery supplying segments with the greatest perfusion defect arm 2: Patients receiving no cell therapy.
Interventions: intervention 1: CD34+ autologous stem cell transplantation intervention 2: Bone Marrow Stimulation intervention 3: SC therapy
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Peripheral blood stem cells will be mobilized by daily subcutaneous injections of filgrastim; CD34+ cells will be collected via apheresis and labeled with technetium. Patients will undergo myocardial perfusion scintigraphy for myocardial viability assessment and the collected CD34+ cells will be injected intracoronary in the artery supplying the segments of reduced tracer accumulation intervention 2: Patients will undergo filgrastim stimulation and viability assessment using the same protocol as in Arm 1. However, in this group, no intracoronary stem cell delivery will be performed; the patients will receive placebo (saline). intervention 3: In the SC group, CD34+ cells were mobilized by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and collected via apheresis. Patients underwent myocardial scintigraphy and cells were injected in the artery supplying segments with the greatest perfusion defect

Protocol documents: