Columbia Technology Ventures

iPSC-derived organoids for treating ischemia and other vascular diseases

This technology is an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived organoid therapeutic designed to promote angiogenesis when injected into ischemic tissue to treat vascular diseases.

Unmet Need: Effective vascular regeneration therapy for vascular diseases

Current methods for vascular regeneration following chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) and other vascular diseases are limited. Patients suffer limb loss if surgical or endothelial regeneration methods fail. Single-cell therapeutics have been tested for vascular regeneration, but they often lead to cell death before revascularization is achieved. Recent studies have used angiogenesis-promoting endothelial organoids to overcome these shortcomings, but these still face several challenges limiting their clinical utility, including limited throughput, low reproducibility, and limited vessel complexity.

The Technology: High-throughput, patient-specific organoid therapeutic for vascular regeneration

This cell-based therapeutic is a prevascularized organoid derived from induced pluripotent stem cells-derived endothelial cells (iPSC-ECs). This method cultures iPSC-ECs with mesenchymal stem cells, forming spheroid aggregates exhibiting complex capillary structures within days. The organoids are personalized to the patient, highly reproducible, can be generated at high throughput, and can be injected into ischemic tissue without damage to organoid integrity. As such, this technology can be used for personalized cell-based therapies for patients with vascular disease to promote vascular regeneration and angiogenesis.

This technology has been validated in vitro by measuring prevascularization in self-organizing iPSCs derived from endothelial tissue.

Applications:

  • Therapeutic for peripheral artery disease, ischemia, and other related vascular diseases
  • Disease model for studying tissue vasculature and related pathologies
  • Research tool for screening and testing efficacy of drug compounds that target endothelial tissues
  • Platform for generating prevascularized cell therapies

Advantages:

  • Patient-specific
  • Highly reproducible
  • High-throughput
  • Can be injected into ischemic tissue using high-gauge needles without organoid damage
  • Prevascularization promotes rapid angiogenesis
  • Decreases risk of organoid cell death
  • Simple protocol and reagents

Lead Inventor:

Samuel Sia, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending

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