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Marei I, Abu Samaan T, Al-Quradaghi MA, Farah AA, Mahmud SH, Ding H, Triggle CR. 3D Tissue-Engineered Vascular Drug Screening Platforms: Promise and Considerations. Front Cardiovasc Med 2022; 9:847554. [PMID: 35310996 PMCID: PMC8931492 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.847554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the efforts devoted to drug discovery and development, the number of new drug approvals have been decreasing. Specifically, cardiovascular developments have been showing amongst the lowest levels of approvals. In addition, concerns over the adverse effects of drugs to the cardiovascular system have been increasing and resulting in failure at the preclinical level as well as withdrawal of drugs post-marketing. Besides factors such as the increased cost of clinical trials and increases in the requirements and the complexity of the regulatory processes, there is also a gap between the currently existing pre-clinical screening methods and the clinical studies in humans. This gap is mainly caused by the lack of complexity in the currently used 2D cell culture-based screening systems, which do not accurately reflect human physiological conditions. Cell-based drug screening is widely accepted and extensively used and can provide an initial indication of the drugs' therapeutic efficacy and potential cytotoxicity. However, in vitro cell-based evaluation could in many instances provide contradictory findings to the in vivo testing in animal models and clinical trials. This drawback is related to the failure of these 2D cell culture systems to recapitulate the human physiological microenvironment in which the cells reside. In the body, cells reside within a complex physiological setting, where they interact with and respond to neighboring cells, extracellular matrix, mechanical stress, blood shear stress, and many other factors. These factors in sum affect the cellular response and the specific pathways that regulate variable vital functions such as proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Although pre-clinical in vivo animal models provide this level of complexity, cross species differences can also cause contradictory results from that seen when the drug enters clinical trials. Thus, there is a need to better mimic human physiological conditions in pre-clinical studies to improve the efficiency of drug screening. A novel approach is to develop 3D tissue engineered miniaturized constructs in vitro that are based on human cells. In this review, we discuss the factors that should be considered to produce a successful vascular construct that is derived from human cells and is both reliable and reproducible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isra Marei
- Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- *Correspondence: Isra Marei
| | - Tala Abu Samaan
- Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Asmaa A. Farah
- Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Hong Ding
- Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
| | - Chris R. Triggle
- Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
- Chris R. Triggle
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Ahmetaj-Shala B, Marei I, Kawai R, Rothery S, Pericleous C, Mohamed NA, Gashaw H, Bokea K, Samuel J, Vandenheste A, Shala F, Kirkby NS, Mitchell JA. Activation and Contraction of Human "Vascular" Smooth Muscle Cells Grown From Circulating Blood Progenitors. Front Cell Dev Biol 2021; 9:681347. [PMID: 34497803 PMCID: PMC8419454 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.681347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Blood outgrowth smooth muscle cells (BO-SMCs) offer the means to study vascular cells without the requirement for surgery providing opportunities for drug discovery, tissue engineering, and personalized medicine. However, little is known about these cells which meant that their therapeutic potential remains unexplored. Our objective was to investigate for the first time the ability of BO-SMCs and vessel-derived smooth muscle cells to sense the thromboxane mimetic U46619 by measuring intracellular calcium elevation and contraction. U46619 (10-6 M) increased cytosolic calcium in BO-SMCs and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) but not in fibroblasts. Increased calcium signal peaked between 10 and 20 s after U46619 in both smooth muscle cell types. Importantly, U46619 (10-9 to 10-6 M) induced concentration-dependent contractions of both BO-SMCs and VSMCs but not in fibroblasts. In summary, we show that functional responses of BO-SMCs are in line with VSMCs providing critical evidence of their application in biomedical research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Isra Marei
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.,Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ryota Kawai
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.,Global Project Management Department, Daiichi-Sankyo Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
| | - Stephen Rothery
- Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Charis Pericleous
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nura A Mohamed
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.,Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Hime Gashaw
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kalliopi Bokea
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jake Samuel
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Fisnik Shala
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas S Kirkby
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jane A Mitchell
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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Ahmetaj-Shala B, Vaja R, Atanur SS, George PM, Kirkby NS, Mitchell JA. Cardiorenal Tissues Express SARS-CoV-2 Entry Genes and Basigin (BSG/CD147) Increases With Age in Endothelial Cells. JACC Basic Transl Sci 2020; 5:1111-1123. [PMID: 33073064 PMCID: PMC7546186 DOI: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2020.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Revised: 09/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Vascular and cardiovascular inflammation and thrombosis occur in patients with severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Advancing age is the most significant risk factor for severe COVID-19. Using transcriptomic databases, the authors found that: 1) cardiovascular tissues and endothelial cells express putative genes for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection, including angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and basigin (BSG); 2) severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 receptor pathways ACE2/transmembrane serine protease 2 and BSG/peptidylprolyl isomerase B(A) polarize to lung/epithelium and vessel/endothelium, respectively; 3) expression of host genes is relatively stable with age; and 4) notable exceptions are ACE2, which decreases with age in some tissues, and BSG, which increases with age in endothelial cells, suggesting that BSG expression in the vasculature may explain the heightened risk for severe disease with age.
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Key Words
- ACE2, angiotensin converting enzyme 2
- ADAM17, ADAM metallopeptidase domain 17
- BSG, basigin
- COVID-19
- COVID-19, coronavirus disease-2019
- CTSB, cathepsin B
- CTSL, cathepsin L
- GTEx, Genotype-Tissue Expression
- PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cells
- PPIA, peptidylprolyl isomerase A
- PPIB, peptidylprolyl isomerase B
- SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2
- TMPRSS2, transmembrane serine protease 2
- age
- cardiovascular
- endothelial cells
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Affiliation(s)
- Blerina Ahmetaj-Shala
- Cardiorespiratory Interface, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ricky Vaja
- Cardiorespiratory Interface, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Santosh S. Atanur
- Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Institute of Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Data Science Group, National Institute for Health Research, Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Peter M. George
- Cardiorespiratory Interface, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas S. Kirkby
- Cardiorespiratory Interface, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jane A. Mitchell
- Cardiorespiratory Interface, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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Ahmetaj-Shala B, Kawai R, Marei I, Nikolakopoulou Z, Shih CC, Konain B, Reed DM, Mongey R, Kirkby NS, Mitchell JA. A bioassay system of autologous human endothelial, smooth muscle cells, and leukocytes for use in drug discovery, phenotyping, and tissue engineering. FASEB J 2019; 34:1745-1754. [PMID: 31914612 PMCID: PMC6972557 DOI: 10.1096/fj.201901379rr] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2019] [Revised: 10/30/2019] [Accepted: 11/06/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Blood vessels are comprised of endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Obtaining both types of cells from vessels of living donors is not possible without invasive surgery. To address this, we have devised a strategy whereby human endothelial and smooth muscle cells derived from blood progenitors from the same donor could be cultured with autologous leukocytes to generate a same donor “vessel in a dish” bioassay. Autologous sets of blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs), smooth muscle cells (BO‐SMCs), and leukocytes were obtained from four donors. Cells were treated in monoculture and cumulative coculture conditions. The endothelial specific mediator endothelin‐1 along with interleukin (IL)‐6, IL‐8, tumor necrosis factor α, and interferon gamma‐induced protein 10 were measured under control culture conditions and after stimulation with cytokines. Cocultures remained viable throughout. The profile of individual mediators released from cells was consistent with what we know of endothelial and smooth muscle cells cultured from blood vessels. For the first time, we report a proof of concept study where autologous blood outgrowth “vascular” cells and leukocytes were studied alone and in coculture. This novel bioassay has usefulness in vascular biology research, patient phenotyping, drug testing, and tissue engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blerina Ahmetaj-Shala
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Ryota Kawai
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK.,Medicinal Safety Research Laboratories, Daiichi-Sankyo Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
| | - Isra Marei
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK.,Qatar Foundation Research and Development Division, Doha, Qatar
| | - Zacharoula Nikolakopoulou
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK.,Centre for Haematology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Chih-Chin Shih
- Department of Pharmacology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, R.O.C., Taiwan
| | - Bhatti Konain
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel M Reed
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Róisín Mongey
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Nicholas S Kirkby
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Jane A Mitchell
- Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
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