A pouch-like structure useful for mechanically preventing distension and/or resisting dilation of the heart and for supporting the hearts function by controllable and paracrine support of a failing heart in a mammal, is composed at least partly of engineered tissue with genetically engineered cells other than cardiac myocytes. The genetically engineered cells contain a gene encoding a paracrine factor which is under control of an inducible promoter system or a heterologous promoter system. The preparation of the pouch-like structure may be used for therapeutic, disease modelling, and drug development applications.
