# Harnessing Platelet-Endothelial Interactions for Stem Cell Delivery

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH · 2021 · $380,422

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Platelet-endothelial interactions play a vital role in diseases such atherosclerosis and ischemic injury such as
myocardial infarction. Vascular injury/inflammation after MI can lead to platelet activation and trafficking, up-
regulations of adhesion molecules, and production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in vasculatures.
Despite in many cases platelet activation is harmful, recent studies indicate that after ischemic injury circulating
stem cells (release from the bone marrow) rely on platelets to navigate into the injured heart for tissue repair.
Platelets form co-aggregates with circulating stem cells in patients with myocardial infarction and thereby
increase peripheral recruitment within the ischemic microcirculatory district and promote adhesion to the
vascular lesion to promote healing. For the last decade, we have been working in the field of stem cell therapy
for post-injury cardiac repair. One big challenge is to target infused stem cells to the cardiac injury site. Poor
cell engraftment in the heart may at least partially explain the none-to-marginal efficacy of stem cell therapies
for heart diseases so far. We hypothesize that expression of platelet binding motifs on stem cells can help
them target to the injured heart. We devised a method of adding platelet binding motifs onto stem cells without
genetically altering the cells. Instead, transient expression can be achieved by cell fusion mechanisms. We will
first generate platelet membrane vesicles from live platelets and then decorate these vesicles onto the surface
of therapeutic stem cells. This method is robust and simple. Under the auspice of this grant study, we aim to
evaluate the cytotoxicity of this approach on stem cell functions and test the safety/efficacy of this approach to
enhance endogenous and exogenous stem cell therapies in animal models of myocardium infarction.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10128491
- **Project number:** 5R01HL144002-03
- **Recipient organization:** NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Ke Cheng
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $380,422
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10128491

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10128491, Harnessing Platelet-Endothelial Interactions for Stem Cell Delivery (5R01HL144002-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10128491. Licensed CC0.

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