Researchers in Spain have developed a new method to deliver cell therapies to patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support system for severe lung failure.
The consecutive intrabronchial administration (CIBA) method enables a new route of delivery: targeted, controlled, fractionated intrabronchial delivery. The researchers referred to the novel approach as “slow consecutive intrabronchial lobe-by-lobe administration”.
Stem-cell-based treatments can be delivered directly into the alveoli of critically ill patients without interfering with the ECMO circuit, “maximising therapeutic effect and minimising risk”.
While MSC clearance from the lungs was observed to occur in a matter of days, “sustained site-specific effects suggest promise for broader application”, according to Dominguez-Pinilla et al.
Safe cell therapy delivery to ECMO patients
A two-year-old patient with end-stage interstitial lung disease, also ineligible for a lung transplant, was given a single dose of Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (WJ-MSCs) via the CIBA method. Despite being well tolerated, the procedure did not reverse the patient’s condition.
[the CIBA method provides] a safe way to deliver regenerative therapies when all other options are blocked”The researchers demonstrated for the first time “that cell therapies can be delivered safely in ECMO patients. That’s a breakthrough. We now have a new therapeutic door to open,” shared Professor Bernat Soria from the Institute of Bioengineering at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH, Spain).
She explained that the method provides “a safe way to deliver regenerative therapies when all other options are blocked… CIBA allows us to drip-feed the therapy gently and exactly where it’s needed—right into the lungs.”
In their paper, Dominguez-Pinilla et al. anticipated that “intra-bronchial injection has the potential to be a novel and successful approach for regenerative and immunomodulatory therapy in pulmonary diseases”.
The proof-of-concept study is part of the DECODE clinical project. Results from the research were published Stem Cell Research & Therapy.
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