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Status unknownNCT03515291Updated Jan 27, 2020

A Trial of Cardiac Injections of iMP Cells During CABG Surgery

A Phase 2 interventional study of iMP cells and Control injection in Myocardial Fibrosis, sponsored by Cell Therapy Ltd.. Status unknown. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-01-27.

Sponsored by Cell Therapy Ltd. · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jan 2020), so the status shown — last known as Not yet recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
50
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Injury to the heart, which may occur following a heart attack or owing to the mechanical effect of high blood pressure, leads to scarring (fibrosis) of the heart muscle. Fibrosis of the muscle can cause impaired pumping of the heart, which can lead to heart failure, and the abnormal conduction of electrical signals through the heart. This may in turn lead to abnormal, potentially fatal, heart rhythms. Currently, scarring of the heart muscle cannot be reversed and is generally progressive.

A previous clinical study found that participants who received injections of immunomodulatory progenitor cells (iMP cells, "Heartcel") showed a reversal of heart muscle scarring when the cells were injected into heart muscle during coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. However, the previous trial was a small scale study and did not have a control group. The aim of this study is to perform a larger scale investigation with 50 participants compared to the previous trial of 11, and split the 50 participants into two groups - a test group and a control group, so that a direct comparison may be made between the two groups.

Read the detailed description

Myocardial fibrosis is a currently untreatable medical condition. A previous trial reported that when iMP cells, a cell type of mesodermal lineage which is separate from, but shares characteristics with, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), were injected into the myocardium during CABG surgery, there was a reduction in the degree of scarring relative to baseline observed on 4 month and 12 month Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) images.

The previous trial was open label with 11 participants and no control group, only historic comparisons. The proposed trial will be larger and will include a control group. The trial endpoints have been updated to take account of the findings of the first trial and late gadolinium enhanced (LGE) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans (LGE-CMR), which have higher resolution than SPECT scans, will be used to assess the appearance of fibrosis.

iMP cells were developed by the sponsor as an allogeneic mesodermally derived cellular therapy for cardiac conditions. While iMPs are plastic adherent like MSCs, iMPs do not meet the International Society for Cellular Therapy's definition of MSCs, though like MSCs, markers indicate that iMPs are immune privileged and can therefore be employed allogeneically without inducing a significant immune response.

The trial is open to participants, male and female, who require CABG surgery and have 15% or greater left ventricular scarring. Unless part of normal clinical care, participants will be required to undergo a screening LGE-MRI to assess the degree of left ventricular scarring. The MRI however, may reveal that the individual is not eligible to participate in the study. If the individual is eligible, then the LGE-MRI will be used as the baseline recording and to plan the injection sites.

Each participant will be involved in the study for approximately 4.5 months. There will be two outpatient pre-operative hospital visits which will occur up to 6 weeks prior to surgery, though if a potential participant is an inpatient, the pre-operative eligibility/baseline tests can be performed over a shorter period of time as an inpatient. The CABG surgery will not differ from normal, except for the injections into the heart muscle, and participants will not miss out on any standard care. There will then be follow up visits at 1 week, 1 month and 15±2 weeks post surgery. The 1 week visit may occur as an inpatient depending on post-operative improvement. The follow up visits will not involve overnight stays. Follow up visits will mainly entail an ECG, an echocardiogram, a blood test, a urine test, health questionnaires and a discussion about the participant's health and any adverse events. Specific details are available from the chief investigator, see below. The 15±2 week visit will also involve a follow up LGE-MRI for primary endpoint assessment. After this visit, participation in the study will end and participants will receive only the normal post CABG care.

As this is a quadruple blind randomised controlled trial, neither participants nor care staff will know to which group a participant is allocated. Of the 50 participants, 30 will receive injections of cells and 20 will receive control injections.

02

Conditions studied

  • Myocardial Fibrosis

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Keywords

  • Heart
  • CABG
  • Injection
  • Scar
  • Fibrosis
  • Cell
  • Progenitor
  • Immunomodulatory
  • MRI
  • Randomized
03

In context

Fibrosis

3,255 studies on the registry are indexed under Fibrosis; 465 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 50 is close to the median of 50 across 2,130 interventional studies indexed under Fibrosis.

Browse Fibrosis studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Cell Therapy Ltd. as lead sponsor.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Greater than or equal to 15% LV scar volume measured by LGE-CMR.

LVEF ≤50%.

Ischaemic heart disease where CABG is the recommended revascularisation strategy.

Age range: 18 years of age and over with no history of congenital cardiac anomalies (men and women).

Able to provide written informed consent (including willingness to have two CMRs).

New York Heart Association (NYHA) class >=2 and/or Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) class angina >=2.

For women of child bearing potential (WOCBP): Negative (non-pregnant) beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) blood test.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Previous cardiac surgery

Requirement for additional cardiac surgery including concomitant valve replacement surgery.

Estimated GFR of \<30mL/min

Contraindication to performance of CMR

Clinical history of malignancy within 5 years

Comorbidities likely to influence the safety of performing the protocol

Liver disease including ALT 3 times or more the upper limit of normal

Low platelet count (\<100,000) platelets per microliter of blood

Evidence of coagulopathy - International Normalised Ratio (INR) >2. Note: Elevated INR due solely to warfarin (or similar medication) is NOT an exclusion criterion.

Increased mortality risk over a 12-month period due to comorbidity

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
50 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    iMP cell injection

    iMP cells injected in to the epicardial surface of the heart during coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

    Biological: iMP cells

  • Placebo comparator
    Control injection

    Control (cell suspension solution) injected in to the epicardial surface of the heart during coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

    Other: Control injection

Interventions

  • BiologicaliMP cells

    Immunomodulatory progenitor cells

    Also known as: "Heartcel"

  • OtherControl injection

    Cell suspension solution

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. LGE-CMR

    Change in left ventricular LGE-CMR imaging (e.g. scar/fibrosis volume reduction), iMP group compared to control group.

    Time frame: Baseline and 15±2 weeks post surgery

Secondary outcomes

  1. LGE-CMR

    Difference in Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF), Left Ventricular End-Diastolic Volume Index (LVEDVi), Left Ventricular End-Systolic Volume Index (LVESVi), LV late gadolinium enhancement pattern, myocardial perfusion and myocardial strain.

    Time frame: Baseline and 15±2 weeks post surgery

  2. Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE)

    Comparison of MACE rates between the two groups - Cardiovascular death, non fatal MI, non fatal stroke and unplanned cardiovascular hospitalisation.

    Time frame: Recorded 1 month and 15±2 weeks post surgery

  3. Major arrhythmic events

    Comparison of rates between the two groups.

    Time frame: Recorded 1 month and 15±2 weeks post surgery

  4. All cause mortality

    Comparison of rates between the two groups.

    Time frame: Recorded 1 month and 15±2 weeks post surgery

  5. New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class

    Assessment of difference in NYHA class between groups.

    Time frame: Baseline and 15±2 weeks post surgery

  6. Quality of life questionnaires

    Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLHF) questionnaire and the EQ5D questionnaire - compared between the two groups.

    Time frame: Baseline and 15±2 weeks post surgery

  7. Length of stay in intensive care/high dependency unit and time to discharge

    Comparison of length of stay in intensive care/high dependency unit and time to discharge - compared between the two groups.

    Time frame: Operation date until discharge from hospital date, assessed up to 30 days post surgery.

  8. Blood biomarkers (routine and exploratory)

    Blood biomarkers related to cardiac function. Routine - Urea and electrolytes, liver function tests and full blood count. Exploratory - Uric acid, lipid profile, high sensitivity C reactive protein, high sensitivity troponin, N terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide. Levels compared between the two groups.

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 times during the post operative recovery period (12h, 24h, 48h and 72h) and at 1 week, 30 days and 15±2 weeks post surgery.

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Publications

  • Anastasiadis K, Antonitsis P, Westaby S, Reginald A, Sultan S, Doumas A, Efthimiadis G, Evans MJ. Implantation of a Novel Allogeneic Mesenchymal Precursor Cell Type in Patients with Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: an Open Label Phase IIa Trial. J Cardiovasc Transl Res. 2016 Jun;9(3):202-213. doi: 10.1007/s12265-016-9686-0. Epub 2016 Apr 1. Erratum In: J Cardiovasc Transl Res. 2021 Jun;14(3):587-588. doi: 10.1007/s12265-020-10076-7. PubMed 27037806 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 27, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03515291
Lead sponsor
Cell Therapy Ltd.
Collaborators
Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 3, 2018
Start date
Jan 2020 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jan 2021 (estimated)
Completion
Jul 2021 (estimated)
Last update
Jan 27, 2020

Study contacts

Ali Vazir, MBBS, PhD
Contact
a.vazir@imperial.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7352 8121
Nigel Scott, MB BChir PhD
study director · Cell Therapy Ltd.

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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