6 years after the launch of the CADeNCE programme, a research programme on the human heart, the research teams look back at the unique opportunity to explore all the electrical properties of the heart in vitro and ex vivo!

Liryc is working on a research program on the human heart, the CADeNCE program, made possible through organ donation for research. For the first time in the world, the specific properties of pulmonary veins and Purkinje network related to heart fibrillation could thus be studied.

The objectives of this project are to enrich the current knowledge of the mechanisms underlying electrical heart problems and to improve the current methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these diseases.
This organ donation makes possible to explore in vitro and ex vivo all the electrical properties of the heart thanks to a multidisciplinary and translational approach and to the mobilization of a set of advanced technologies in fundamental and clinical electrophysiology unique in the world.

The samples are taken at the Bordeaux University Hospital thanks to the involvement of Pr Labrousse, a cardiac surgeon, and of Dr. Rogier, who is the coordinating physician for the removal of organs and tissues. These samples are taken after approval of the family on patients who brain died but whose heart is in good working order. This heart can not be offered to cardiac transplant because of the age of the patient or heart diseases. The sample is taken under the same conditions as if it had to be re-implanted in another patient. The heart is put into a cardioplegic solution to be protected during transport time at the Liryc Institute and then infused and stimulated electrically to allow it to “reshuffle” a second time for 4 to 8 hours of study. The samples are often taken at night, which requires the establishment of teams of doctors and researchers on call, ready to intervene at any time.

Six years after its launch in March 2015, 70 hearts have so far been integrated into the program. The initial results are very promising and have already been the subject of numerous communications at conferences such as HRS, ISHR, and Spring of Cardiology. The program will be continued to explore major questions such as the understanding of unexplained sudden death, the role of cardiac anatomy and microstructure in arrhythmias and in particular AF, new perspectives on the study of structural cardiomyopathies and heart failure. This project also represents an important potential for industrial valorization and will probably have major implications for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industry.

Published on 07 April 2021