Biomedical subjects

Linda W van Laake

Publications and source records attributed to Linda W van Laake.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2025

Angiotensin-Neprilysin Inhibition and Left Ventricular Assist Device Therapy: Primary Results of the ENVAD-HF Trial.

BACKGROUND: The role of heart failure-specific therapies in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients is unclear, and observational data suggest improved outcomes with neurohormonal blockers. OBJECTIVES: ENVAD-HF (Multicenter, Randomized, Open-Label, Parallel Group, Study to Evaluate the Use of Sacubitril/Valsartan in HeartMate 3 LVAD Recipients) sought to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitor sacubitril/valsartan vs standard of care (SOC) for managing blood pressure (BP) in HeartMate 3 LVAD recipients. METHODS: ENVAD-HF was a prospective multicenter, randomized, open-label study of sacubitril/valsartan vs SOC for managing BP (mean arterial pressure goal: 75-90 mm Hg) in stable LVAD recipients with 12-month follow-up. The composite primary endpoint was time to death, deterioration in renal function, hyperkalemia, or symptomatic hypotension leading to drug withdrawal. Exploratory endpoints included clinical and biomarker assessments and patient-reported outcomes. RESULTS: In 60 randomized patients (30 in each arm), sacubitril/valsartan compared with SOC demonstrated an HR of 0.42 (95% CI: 0.08-2.18; P = 0.30) for the primary endpoint at 12 months. Two primary endpoints were reached in the sacubitril/valsartan group (1 death and 1 symptomatic hypotension event) compared with 5 in the SOC group (2 deaths, 2 worsening renal function events, and 1 symptomatic hypotension event). Numerical trends in favor of sacubitril/valsartan were noted for other exploratory endpoints, including a reduced number of BP medications (difference: -1.09 [95% CI: -1.52 to -0.66]; P < 0.0001) and a significantly better Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-Overall Summary Score (improvement: +10.6 [95% CI: 2.6-18.7]; P = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: ENVAD-HF, a prospective randomized controlled trial of angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition in stable HeartMate 3 LVAD recipients, demonstrated the safety and tolerability of this therapy in this unique population. The trial forms the basis for a pivotal trial to investigate the usefulness of HF-specific therapies in the LVAD population. (Sacubitril/Valsartan in Left Ventricular Assist Device Recipients [ENVAD-HF], NCT04103554; A multicENter, randomized, open-label, parallel group, pilot study to evaluate the use of sacubitril/valsartan in HeartMate 3 LVAD recipients, 2019-003888-22).

Humans↗

PubMed2006

Endoglin has a crucial role in blood cell-mediated vascular repair.

BACKGROUND: Endoglin, an accessory receptor for transforming growth factor-beta in vascular endothelial cells, is essential for angiogenesis during mouse development. Mutations in the human gene cause hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia type 1 (HHT1), a disease characterized by vascular malformations that increase with age. Although haploinsufficiency is the underlying cause of the disease, HHT1 individuals show great heterogeneity in age of onset, clinical manifestations, and severity. METHODS AND RESULTS: In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analysis of mouse and human hearts revealed that endoglin is upregulated in neoangiogenic vessels formed after myocardial infarction. Microvascularity within the infarct zone was strikingly lower in mice with reduced levels of endoglin (Eng+/-) compared with wild-type mice, which resulted in a greater deterioration in cardiac function as measured by magnetic resonance imaging. This did not appear to be because of defects in host inflammatory cell numbers in the infarct zone, which accumulated to a similar extent in wild-type and heterozygous mice. However, defects in vessel formation and heart function in Eng+/- mice were rescued by injection of mononuclear cells from healthy human donors but not by mononuclear cells from HHT1 patients. CONCLUSIONS: These results establish defective vascular repair as a significant component of the origin of HHT1. Because vascular damage or inflammation occurs randomly, it may also explain disease heterogeneity. More generally, the efficiency of vascular repair may vary between individuals because of intrinsic differences in their mononuclear cells.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Diversity of microRNAs in human and chimpanzee brain.

We used massively parallel sequencing to compare the microRNA (miRNA) content of human and chimpanzee brains, and we identified 447 new miRNA genes. Many of the new miRNAs are not conserved beyond primates, indicating their recent origin, and some miRNAs seem species specific, whereas others are expanded in one species through duplication events. These data suggest that evolution of miRNAs is an ongoing process and that along with ancient, highly conserved miRNAs, there are a number of emerging miRNAs.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Heart repair and stem cells.

Of the medical conditions currently being discussed in the context of possible treatments based on cell transplantation therapy, few have received more attention than the heart. Much focus has been on the potential application of bone marrow-derived cell preparations, which have already been introduced into double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. The consensus is that bone marrow may have therapeutic benefit but that this is not based on the ability of bone marrow cells to transdifferentiate into cardiac myocytes. Are there potential stem cell sources of cardiac myocytes that may be useful in replacing those lost or dysfunctional after myocardial infarction? Here, this question is addressed with a review of the recent literature.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Human embryonic stem cells: genetic manipulation on the way to cardiac cell therapies.

Almost 7 years after their first derivation from human embryos, a pressing urgency to deliver the promises of therapies based on human embryonic stem cells (hESC) has arisen. Protocols have been developed to support long-term growth of undifferentiated cells and partially direct differentiation to specific cell lineages. The stage has almost been set for the next step: transplantation in animal models of human disease. Here, we review the state-of-the-art with respect to the transplantation of embryonic stem cell-derived heart cells in animals. One problem affecting progress in this area and functional analysis in vivo in general, is the availability of genetically marked hESC. There are only a few cell lines that express reporter genes ubiquitously, and none is associated with particular lineages; a major hurdle has been the resistance of hESC to established infection and chemical transfection methodologies to introduce ectopic genes. The methods that have been successful are reviewed. We also describe the processes for generating a new, genetically-modified hESC line that constitutively expresses GFP as well as some of its characteristics, including its ability to form cardiomyocytes with electrophysiological properties of ventricular-like cells.

Animals↗