Stem Cell Therapy for the Treatment of Myocardial Infarction: How Far Are We Now?

Abstract

Myocardial infarction is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Poor functional recovery of the myocardium is noticed after an event of myocardial infarction. Researchers and clinicians around the world have been engaged to regenerate the damaged human heart for a long time. Stem cell therapy is an exciting newer therapy to treat cardiovascular diseases. Various types of stem cells have been used to revive the damaged myocardium after myocardial infarction, and they have overall demonstrated safety and moderate efficacy. The specific mechanisms by which these cells help in improving cardiac function are still not completely known. There is growing evidence that intracoronary bone marrow cell transplantation in patients with myocardial infarction beneficially affects the remodeling of the damaged myocardium. Our systematic review article aims to assess the effects and the future of stem cell therapy in patients with myocardial Infarction. We searched articles in PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Thirty-one studies that included 2171 patients in total were analyzed. Most of these studies showed stem cell therapy is safe and well tolerated in patients, and modest improvements are seen in left ventricular functions with no major adverse effects. However, some studies showed no positive and clinically significant outcomes. So, more high-quality studies on a larger scale are required to support and confirm its efficacy in remodeling damaged myocardium after myocardial infarction. We should also perform studies to determine the timing of cell delivery that is best suited for stem cell therapy.

Therapeutic Use of Stem Cells in the Management of Coronary Artery Disease and Heart Failure; Current Trends, Progress, and Challenges

“…Studies on the use of CDCs for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (MI) were found to improve left ventricular systolic function (LVSF) and reduce infarct scar size in various preclinical trials of coronary artery disease [37]. Results from the pre-clinical trials are somewhat consistent with outcomes found in clinical studies showing decreased scar mass, increased viable mass, and improved regional function consistent with therapeutic regeneration compared to the control group [31,38].…”

Optimal transplantation strategy using human induced pluripotent stem cell‐derived cardiomyocytes for acute myocardial infarction in nonhuman primates

“…25 Although no teratomas were found during the structural evaluation, renal atrophy and mural thrombosis in the intracoronary Tx group caused the macaques to die before the end of the experiment. Although it has been reported that intracoronary Tx is effective, 26,27 studies with opposite conclusions have questioned its safety. 28 Our research on nonhuman primates suggested that when used, the intracoronary Tx strategy necessitates consideration of security risks.…”