Cardio Repair European Multidisciplinary Initiative (CAREMI)
Cardio Repair European Multidisciplinary Initiative (CAREMI)
The Cardio Repair European Multidisciplinary Initiative (CARE-MI) is a large-scale integrating project funded by the European Union which involves 18 partners, counting with RTDs and SMEs. The project aims to develop myocardial regenerative therapies against Ischemic Heart Disease produced after Acute Myocardial Infarction.
Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) is the biggest single cause of death in Europe and in the developed world. Angioplasty and stents are successful in re-establishing perfusion of ischemic myocardium and have helped to reduce early mortality after Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). However damaged tissue is not recovered and, therefore, this is always followed by cardiac remodeling and Chronic Heart Failure (CHF). CHF is a terminal disease with an annual mortality rate of approximately 18% with no cure besides heart transplantation, only available to a minority of patients. Autologous cell therapy has been proposed as a solution and clinically tested but has proven marginally effective at best. Its cost and the complexity of clinical procedures make it unsuitable for treating the large number of patients that need affordable and readily available products to treat the acute phase of the disease. Moreover, most of these approaches are predicated on the outmoded concept that the adult human myocardium lacks regenerative capacity. Recent findings show that adult myocardium harbours a population of resident pluripotent cells with the characteristics of true Cardiac Stem Cells (CSC) able to regenerate contractile myocardium. This opens novel therapeutic avenues capable of producing real anatomical and functional regeneration.
The CARE-MI project addresses the clinical implementation of this recent paradigmatic change.
Title and acronym Cardio Repair European Multidisciplinary Initiative (acronym: CAREMI)
Duration and start date 60 months (01/04/2010 - 01/04/2015)
Funding agency EC 7 Framework Program
Project PI Antonio Bernad
Coordinated by CNIC
