title: Cardiac Repair and Regeneration: The Value of Cell Therapies.
abstract: Ischaemic heart disease is the predominant contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality; one million myocardial Infarctions occur per year in the USA, while more than five million patients suffer from chronic heart failure. Recently, heart failure has been singled out as an epidemic and is a staggering clinical and public health problem associated with significant mortality, morbidity and healthcare expenditures, particularly among those aged ≥65 years. Death rates have improved dramatically over the last four decades, but new approaches are nevertheless urgently needed for those patients who go on to develop ventricular dysfunction and chronic heart failure. Over the past decade, stem cell transplantation has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for acute or chronic ischaemic cardiomyopathy. Multiple candidate cell types have been used in preclinical animal models and in humans to repair or regenerate the injured heart, either directly or indirectly (through paracrine effects), including: embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), neonatal cardiomyocytes, skeletal myoblasts (SKMs), endothelial progenitor cells, bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and, most recently, cardiac stem cells (CSCs). Although no consensus has emerged yet, the ideal cell type for the treatment of heart disease should: (a) improve heart function; (b) create healthy and functional cardiac muscle and vasculature, integrated into the host tissue; (c) be amenable to delivery by minimally invasive clinical methods; (d) be available 'off the shelf' as a standardised reagent; (e) be tolerated by the immune system; (f) be safe oncologically, i.e. not create tumours; and (g) circumvent societal ethical concerns. At present, it is not clear whether such a 'perfect' stem cell exists; what is apparent, however, is that some cell types are more promising than others. In this brief review, we provide ongoing data on agreement and controversy arising from clinical trials and touch upon the future directions of cell therapy for heart disease.
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Infirmary Hospital of Edinburgh (NHS Lothian), University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine and College of Medicine and Veterinary, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
authors: Daniel Alejandro
authors: DA
authors: Lerman
authors: Zala County Hospital, Pécs University, Hungary.
authors: Nasri
authors: N
authors: Alotti
authors: University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors: Kiddy Levente
authors: KL
authors: Ume
authors: MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine and College of Medicine and Veterinary, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Orthopaedic Hospital Research Centre, University of California at Los Angeles, USA.
authors: Bruno
authors: B
authors: Péault
keywords: Acute myocardial infarction; bone marrow stem cells; cardiac regeneration; cardiac repair; cardiac stem cells; cardiac stem/progenitor cells; embryonic stem cells; ischaemic cardiomyopathy; mesenchymal stem cells; pericytes; skeletal myoblasts