A Novel Engineered Niche to Explore the Vasculogenic Potential of Embryonic Stem Cells

Cardiovascular diseases account for an estimated $330 billion in health care costs each year, afflict 61.8 million Americans, and will account for more than 1.5 million deaths in the U.S. this year alone. A number of these diseases are characterized by either insufficient blood vessel growth or damage to the existing vessels, resulting in inadequate nutrient and oxygen delivery to the tissues. The most common clinical example of this is a heart attack, or myocardial infarction, typically caused by blockage of a coronary artery. The resulting ischemia (reduced blood flow) induces irreversible damage to the heart, leaving behind a non-functional scar tissue. Efforts to restore blood flow to ischemic tissues have largely focused on the delivery of protein growth factors (called pro-angiogenic molecules) that stimulate new capillary growth. An alternative approach is to deliver an appropriate cell type that can either accelerate the recruitment of host vessels or can differentiate into a functional vasculature directly. While adult stem cells have shown promising potential with respect to the former, the potential of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) with respect to either of these two possibilities remains unclear. Therefore, this proposal seeks to: 1.) Utilize a novel, highly tunable, 3D engineered niche to investigate how changes in multiple instructive signals coordinately govern the differentiation of ESCs into capillary vessels; 2.) Exploit knowledge gained from basic studies using this model system to generate a purified population of ESC-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and test their potential to repair ischemia in vivo. Specifically, in Aim 1, we propose to further develop and characterize our artificial engineered niche for fundamental studies on ESC fate decisions. Aim 2 will use this system to test two competing hypotheses, namely that: 1.) ESCs can facilitate capillary morphogenesis in an indirect manner, in much the same way as adult stem cells; or 2.) ESCs can be directed down an endothelial-specific lineage by manipulating one or more instructive signals. Finally, Aim 3 will utilize our engineered niche to generate a purified population of ESC-derived EPCs and then test their ability to enhance perfusion in an animal model. Successful completion of these proposed aims may transform the clinical use of stem cells for cardiovascular disease and other ischemic pathologies by enabling identification of those factors and conditions which promote vessel formation. The versatile artificial engineered niche developed here will also yield a new tool that could enormously benefit efforts to screen the combinatorial effects of promising therapeutic compounds. Completion of the planned studies will greatly facilitate the PI’s long-term goal of developing “instructive” biomaterials and strategies to direct tissue repair.