Mesenchymal stem cells as the near future of cardiology medicine - truth or wish?

Abstract

Cardiac damage is one of major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Despite the development in pharmacotherapy, cardiosurgery and interventional cardiology, many patients remain at increased risk of developing adverse cardiac remodeling. An alternative treatment approach is the application of stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells are among the most promising cell types usable for cardiac regeneration. Their homing to the damaged area, differentiation into cardiomyocytes, paracrine and/or immunomodulatory effect on cardiac tissue was investigated extensively. Despite promising preclinical reports, clinical trials on human patients are not convincing. Meta-analyses of these trials open many questions and show that routine clinical application of mesenchymal stem cells as a cardiac treatment may be not as helpful as expected. This review summarizes contemporary knowledge about mesenchymal stem cells role in cardiac tissue repair and discusses the problems and perspectives of this experimental therapeutical approach.

Mechanisms underlying the protective effects of mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy

“…Their regenerative and immunomodulatory properties enable MSCs as a novel strategy for treating a wide variety of diseases including autoimmune diseases [85,86], bone and cartilage diseases [3,87], cardiovascular diseases [88,89], inflammatory airway disorders [6,90], liver diseases [91,92], muscle diseases [93], neurodegenerative diseases [94,95], spinal cord injuries [96] and so on. The osteogenic differentiation potential of MSCs makes them successful in treating and managing bone fractures [97].…”

Hypoxia and inflammatory factor preconditioning enhances the immunosuppressive properties of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells

“…Although many questions remain unanswered, the immunomodulatory effects of MSCs make them candidates for cell-based tissue repair and disease treatment[ 10 - 12 ]. For example, MSCs have great potential in treating graft- versus -host disease[ 13 ], cardiovascular disease[ 14 , 15 ], liver disease[ 16 , 17 ], systemic lupus erythematosus[ 18 ], autoimmune encephalomyelitis[ 19 ] and spinal cord injury[ 20 ]. Studies have shown that the immunomodulatory ability of MSCs is primarily regulated by cytokines and other soluble factors, including prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-stimulated gene protein-6 (TSG-6), inducible indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)[ 21 ].…”

Prospects for the use of breast milk in individual regenerative medicine of childhood age

“…Кокультивирование мезенхимальных стволовых клеток и кардиомиоцитов человека способствует формированию у мезенхимальных стволовых клеток наиболее полного фенотипа кардиомиоцитов (экспрессия тяжелых цепей миозина, бета-актина и тропонина Т), что позволяет предположить необходимость тесного контакта с кардиомиоцитами для наиболее полной дифференцировки мезенхимальных стволовых клеток в сторону кардиомиоцитов. Кроме того, мезенхимальные стволовые клетки при интрамиокардиальном введении способны дифференцироваться в предшественники гладкомышечных клеток/перицитов и эндотелиальных клеток [27,44,45].…”