Clinical-based Cell Therapies for Heart Disease—Current and Future State

Abstract

Hare reports having a patent for cardiac cell-based therapy. He holds equity in Vestion Inc. and maintains a professional relationship with Vestion Inc. as a consultant and member of the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board. Dr Hare is the Chief Scientific Officer, a compensated consultant, and advisory board member for Longeveron and holds equity in Longeveron. Dr Hare is also the co-inventor of intellectual property licensed to Longeveron. The other authors report no conflicts.

Injectable Hydrogels for Improving Cardiac Cell Therapy—In Vivo Evidence and Translational Challenges

“…For cardiac regeneration, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are the furthest in clinical development [ 2 ]. These cells are relatively easily harvested and cultured for clinical use [ 5 ].…”

“…Initially, MSCs were thought to transdifferentiate into cardiomyocytes, directly aiding the pump function of the damaged heart [ 2 ]. However, overwhelming evidence has proven that MSCs mainly exert their regenerative functions through paracrine interaction with the surrounding cells.…”

“…Results comparing the effect of MSCs and MSC-derived secretions on cardiac function are, however, inconsistent, though pointing towards cell therapy being superior [ 41 ]. Common for these approaches is that they initiate an endogenous wound healing response, including angiogenesis, activation of macrophage subtypes, and homing of circulating stromal cells [ 2 ].…”

“…Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide and include pathological disorders such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and heart failure [ 1 ]. Current treatment options focus primarily on slowing disease progression and ameliorating symptoms, but therapies that regenerate or reverse myocardial remodeling have yet to be developed and/or implemented in clinical practice [ 2 ]. Therefore, several patients with end-stage heart failure will develop a need for heart transplantation, a treatment highly restricted by donor availability.…”

“…Various cell types have been tested in clinical trials, and many types have been investigated in preclinical studies. Several cell types have been demonstrated to have a good clinical safety profile and to be capable of ameliorating or reversing the myocardial remodeling [ 2 ]. Cell therapy may very well be groundbreaking in treatment of otherwise non-treatable conditions, including several heart diseases.…”