Hepatitis C Virus Elimination Programs in Louisiana and Washington: Importance of Screening and Surveillance Systems.

The US government has established a national goal of hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination by 2030. To date, most HCV elimination planning and activity have been at the state level. Fifteen states presently have publicly available HCV elimination plans.

Pim1 Kinase Overexpression Enhances ckit Cardiac Stem Cell Cardiac Repair Following Myocardial Infarction in Swine.

Background: Pim1 kinase plays an important role in cell division, survival, and commitment of precursor cells towards a myocardial lineage, and overexpression of Pim1 in ckit cardiac stem cells (CSCs) enhances their cardioreparative properties.

Objectives: The authors sought to validate the effect of Pim1-modified CSCs in a translationally relevant large animal preclinical model of myocardial infarction (MI).

Methods: Human cardiac stem cells (hCSCs, n = 10), hckit CSCs overexpressing Pim1 (Pim1; n = 9), or placebo (n = 10) were delivered by intramyocardial injection to immunosuppressed Yorkshire swine (n = 29) 2 weeks after MI.

Synergistic Effects of Combined Cell Therapy for Chronic Ischemic Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Both bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells (CSCs) improve left ventricular remodeling in porcine models and clinical trials. Using xenogeneic (human) cells in immunosuppressed animals with acute ischemic heart disease, we previously showed that these 2 cell types act synergistically.

Objectives: To more accurately model clinical applications for heart failure, this study tested whether the combination of autologous MSCs and CSCs produce greater improvement in cardiac performance than MSCs alone in a nonimmunosuppressed porcine model of chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Durable scar size reduction due to allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell therapy regulates whole-chamber remodeling.

Background: Intramyocardial injection of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy is associated with reverse remodeling in experimental models and humans. Here, we tested the hypothesis that allogeneic MSC therapy drives ventricular remodeling by producing durable and progressive scar size reduction in ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Methods And Results: Gottingen swine (n=12) underwent left anterior descending coronary artery myocardial infarction (MI), and 3 months post-MI animals received either intramyocardial allogeneic MSC injection (200 mol/L cells; n=6) or left ventricle (LV) catheterization without injection (n=6).

Myocardial infarction and intramyocardial injection models in swine.

Sustainable and reproducible large animal models that closely replicate the clinical sequelae of myocardial infarction (MI) are important for the translation of basic science research into bedside medicine. Swine are well accepted by the scientific community for cardiovascular research, and they represent an established animal model for preclinical trials for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of novel therapies. Here we present a protocol for using porcine models of MI created with a closed-chest coronary artery occlusion-reperfusion technique.