Targeting cardiac fibrosis with engineered T cells.

ABSTRACT: Fibrosis is observed in nearly every form of myocardial disease¹. Upon injury, cardiac fibroblasts in the heart begin to remodel the myocardium by depositing excess extracellular matrix, resulting in increased stiffness and reduced compliance of the tissue. Excessive cardiac fibrosis is an important factor in the progression of various forms of cardiac disease and heart failure². However, clinical interventions and therapies that target fibrosis remain limited³. Here we demonstrate the efficacy of redirected T cell immunotherapy to specifically target pathological cardiac fibrosis in mice. We find that cardiac fibroblasts that express a xenogeneic antigen can be effectively targeted and ablated by adoptive transfer of antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell

SUBMITTER: Aghajanian H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6752964 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature