title: Human umbilical cord derived stem cells for the injured heart.
abstract: The limited ability of the heart to regenerate damaged tissue following a myocardial infarct results in progressive dysfunctions and consequently leads to heart failure. Cell therapy with stem cells for cardiac repair is emerging as an alternative strategy and demonstrates promising results. Recent advances suggest human umbilical cord may be a new source for stem cells. Human umbilical cords are easy to obtain and umbilical cord derived stem cells can be easily extracted and cryopreserved, allowing for individuals to store their own samples for possible future autologous use even if there were no immediate indication that stem cell therapy would be required. Therefore, we hypothesize that human umbilical cord derived stem cells may be the new cell source for the injured heart.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Cardiac Center, Department of Surgery, Cardiovascular Institute and Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, 167 Beilishi Road, Beijing 100037, China.
authors.forename: Kai Hong
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shao Guang
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wei Ting
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Dong Sheng
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Peng Xia
authors.initials: PX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wen Bin
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Zhong Chao
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Ying Long
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D032342:Muscle Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000166:cytology*