title: Cardiac tissue engineering: a clinical perspective.
abstract: Engineered myocardium may be used to repair myocardial defects. Although not clinically applicable yet, initial studies in rodents have demonstrated the feasibility of tissue engineering based myocardial repair in vivo. In order for restorative treatment to evolve into a functional treatment modality, tissue engineers have to generate human myocardium of sufficient size and with relevant contractile function to replace/repair myocardial defects. This requires the identification of a scalable and ideally autologous cardiomyocyte source as well as the development of strategies to overcome size limitations. We will further address pivotal issues pertaining to the allocation of suitable human cells for myocardial tissue engineering and discuss the translation of present myocardial tissue engineering concepts into preclinical, as well as clinical, trials.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. w.zimmermann@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Wolfram-Hubertus
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.forename: Malte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiburcy
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eschenhagen
mesh_terms: D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006351:Heart Valves / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*