Hannover Medical School (MHH) is the winner of the nationwide innovation competition "Organ Replacement from the Laboratory" organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The MHH's "3D-Heart-2B" project will receive federal funding of 3 million euros for three years

Tubular heart prosthesis made from iPS cells

In the "3D-Heart-2B" research project coordinated by Professor Dr. Ina Gruh, scientists from the Clinical Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG) at MHH and the Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO) aim to develop a biological heart support system. With the help of so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) from genetically reprogrammed human tissue cells, heart muscle cells can be produced. These are now to form the basic building block for a tubular heart prosthesis. As a single-chamber heart implant, the organ replacement could help patients with congenital heart defects who are missing a heart chamber for hereditary reasons.

Heart prosthesis to compensate for reduced pumping capacity

A healthy heart has two chambers that are separated from each other by the cardiac septum. The left ventricle pumps oxygen-rich blood into the aorta, while the right ventricle pumps oxygen-poor blood into the lungs. If only one ventricle is present from birth, it supplies both the aorta and the pulmonary artery. "These patients have mixed blood in the heart and have to undergo several operations during childhood to separate the circulatory systems," says HTTG Clinic Director Prof. Dr. Axel Haverich. However, the incomplete heart still has a reduced pumping capacity. The biological heart prosthesis made from fibrin, heart muscle cells and heart valves is intended to compensate for this reduced pumping capacity.

The shortage of donor organs is a major social problem. Replacement organs from the laboratory could be an important contribution to the solution. The national competition is intended to help speed up the cultivation of such replacement organs.