Cytograft is able to produce vascular grafts made exclusively from the patient's own cells by rolling fibroblast (skin cells) sheets around temporary support mandrels. The sheets are created by culturing fibroblasts extracted from a small dermal biopsy taken from the patient. After maturation, the individual plies of the rolled sheet fuse to form a homogeneous tissue. The resulting vessels have the requisite mechanical properties to endure supra-physiological loads. To prevent thrombosis (blood clotting), the vessel's lumen is lined with the patient's endothelial cells extracted from a superficial vein biopsy. Both the skin and the vein biopsies are minimally invasive out-patient procedures.
LifeLine™ is a versatile technology that has the potential to be used for coronary bypass, as a peripheral graft for the prevention of lower limb amputation, or as an arterio-venous shunt for hemodialysis access. LifeLine™ has shown promising results in phase I/II clinical trials as reported in The New England Journal of Medicine and, most recently, the Lancet.
More information about LifeLine™ development stage is available in the pipeline section.