title: Cardiac repair with intramyocardial injection of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells after myocardial infarction.
abstract: Although clinical trials of autologous whole bone marrow for cardiac repair demonstrate promising results, many practical and mechanistic issues regarding this therapy remain highly controversial. Here, we report the results of a randomized study of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, administered to pigs, which offer several new insights regarding cellular cardiomyoplasty. First, cells were safely injected by using a percutaneous-injection catheter 3 d after myocardial infarction. Second, cellular transplantation resulted in long-term engraftment, profound reduction in scar formation, and near-normalization of cardiac function. Third, transplanted cells were pre-prepared from an allogeneic donor and were not rejected, a major practical advance for widespread application of this therapy. Together, these findings demonstrate that the direct injection of cellular grafts into damaged myocardium is safe and effective in the perii-nfarct period. The direct delivery of cells to necrotic myocardium offers a valuable alternative to intracoronary cell injections, and the use of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells provides a valuable strategy for cardiac regenerative therapy that avoids the need for preparing autologous cells from the recipient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Cardiology Division, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Blalock 618, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
authors.forename: Luciano C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Amado
authors.forename: Anastasios P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Saliaris
authors.forename: Karl H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Schuleri
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: St John
authors.forename: Jin-Sheng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Durand
authors.forename: Torin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fitton
authors.forename: Jin Qiang
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Kuang
authors.forename: Garrick
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lehrke
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
authors.forename: Bradley J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Alan W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Heldman
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hare
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007267:Injections; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000502:physiology*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous