Galvanizing Blood Vessel Cells to Expand for Organ Transplantation

November 2, 2025

Scientists have discovered a method to induce human endothelial cells from a small biopsy sample to multiply in the laboratory, producing more than enough cells to replace damaged blood vessels or nourish organs for transplantation, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. Endothelial cells form the inner lining of blood vessels and regulate blood flow, inflammation and healing. Traditional approaches for growing these cells in the lab have yielded only limited numbers before they lose their ability to function. The new method involves treating adult endothelial cells with a small molecule that triggers the hibernating cells to wake up and divide hundreds of times without signs of aging, mutation or loss of function.

The findings, published Oct. 14 in Nature Cardiovascular Research, may provide a reliable way to generate an enormous number of a patient’s own endothelial cells, enabling vascular grafts for heart disease, diabetes treatments and organ transplants and strategies to target abnormal tumor blood vessels.

Dr. Shahin Rafii

“Despite being able to isolate human endothelial cells in the lab for more than 50 years—a breakthrough that was originally reported by scientists at Weill Cornell in 1973—their use for human therapy has been cumbersome. It has been difficult to cultivate them in clinical quantities sufficient for vascularizing human organs,” said Dr. Shahin Rafii, director of the Hartman Institute for Therapeutic Organ Regeneration and the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, chief of the division of regenerative medicine and the Arthur B. Belfer Professor in Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell, who led the research. “Our technology allows clinical labs to use a small biopsy taken in a doctor’s office and ultimately produce a trillion or more functional endothelial cells, without acquiring any aberrant features.”

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