Safety and effectiveness of an intracoronary infusion of microencapsulated IGF-1 and HGF.

What is it about?

Nowadays, regenerative cardiology is focusing on growth factors therapy. Some studies have shown that growth factors such as Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) or Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) could have antifibrotic, angiogenic and antiapoptotic properties. Furthermore, microencapsulation of these growth factors allows a sustained release over time with a single intervention.

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Why is it important?

Injection was successful in all cases in absence of major adverse cardiac events. No changes to the ECG were seen in any case. TIMI flow decreased to TIMI 1 or 2 in three animals from the HGF group and four belonging to the IGF-1 group. These changes were not accompanied by increases in TnI values in any group. Treatment effect on EF (ΔEF) was significantly higher in IGF-1 animals. The effect of the treatment on EDVi and ESVi was not significantly different between groups. TTC staining showed more viable tissue within the infarct zone in IGF-1 than in HGF-treated animals.