The Heart of the Matter – Philippe Menasché, MD, PhD, Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Paris Descartes – Heart Failure Treatment, Stem Cells, and Medical Advances

Philippe Menasché, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Paris Descartes, discusses his work with stem-cell-derived extracellular vesicles for the treatment of heart failure.

Dr. Philippe Menasché earned his MD and Ph.D. degrees from the prestigious University of Paris. As a noted Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Paris Descartes, Chief of the Heart Failure Surgery Unit of the Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, and Director of an INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) laboratory that is focused on cell therapy for cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Menasché keeps a busy schedule indeed.

Dr. Menasché talks about his background and current work. He explains in detail how cells function and how transplanted cells, as those that are transplanted into the heart, die. However, Dr. Menasché states that improvement does happen, and their current thinking is that the repair actually comes from the heart itself as it is stimulated by the molecules that are secreted by these transplanted cells during their presence, even if their presence is only for a limited time.

Dr. Menasché discusses the issues with injecting directly into the heart. He explains that you can functionalize biomaterial and use it in such a way that it will release secretome over time in a controlled fashion. The term 'secretome' is a simplified word that denotes all of the many factors that are secreted by a cell, along with the secretory pathway constituents. This process allows the myocardium to be exposed to the secretome for a longer amount of time, which is beneficial.

Dr. Menasché talks about the idea of stem cells in the heart and the serious discussions that are occurring in the medical science community that questions whether stem cells actually exist in the heart or not. The Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery wraps up by talking about clinical trials, the types of heart disease that exist, as well as patients who can benefit from new treatments.