October 16, 2024

Dr. Syedain and Prof. Tranquillo Research Team Achieves Breakthrough in Growing Vascular Grafts with Publication in Nature Communications

Landmark Study Demonstrates First-Ever Somatic Growth Capacity in Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts for Pediatric Heart Defect Repair

Dr. Zeeshan Syedain and Professor Robert Tranquillo published groundbreaking research in Nature Communications Medicine, demonstrating the tissue-engineered vascular graft capable of somatic growth in pediatric applications. The study, titled “Evaluation of an engineered vascular graft exhibiting somatic growth in lambs to model repair of absent pulmonary artery branch,” represents a major advancement toward solving one of pediatric cardiac surgery’s greatest challenges: the need for multiple open-heart surgeries as children grow.

The research showed that  biologically-engineered grafts demonstrated remarkable growth capacity, with diameter more than doubling from the preimplant value of 6 mm to 12.9 mm and also a doubling of length from 6.0 mm to 13.0 mm at 6 months when implanted in growing lambs. Most significantly, the study found total collagen content increased by 265% over 18-month implantation, providing clear evidence of genuine somatic growth rather than simple mechanical expansion. As the study’s plain language summary emphasizes, “Blood vessel implants that are currently used to repair heart defects at birth do not grow with the child. This means that children need to have multiple open heart surgeries to replace implants with larger implants as they grow.”

“This publication validates our core technology platform and demonstrates the transformative potential of our tissue-engineered approach,” said Dr. Zeeshan Syedain, who leads Vascudyne’s research efforts alongside Professor Tranquillo at the University of Minnesota. The study showed that the engineered grafts exhibit extensive site-appropriate recellularization after only 3 months with excellent hemodynamics and no calcification, while achieving nearly 50–50 flow distribution between the left and right pulmonary arteries at 6 months compared to control grafts. The technology being commercialized by Vascudyne represents “growth is the holy grail of tissue implants in pediatrics” and could dramatically improve outcomes for children born with congenital heart defects by eliminating the need for repeated surgical interventions as they grow.