The Clinical Status of Stem Cell Therapy for Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) is becoming a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the whole world. Stem cell-based therapy is emerging as a promising option for treatment of ICM. Several stem cell types including cardiac-derived stem cells (CSCs), bone marrow-derived stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), skeletal myoblasts (SMs), and CD34+ and CD 133+ stem cells have been applied in clinical researches. The clinical effect produced by stem cell administration in ICM mainly depends on the transdifferentiation and paracrine effect. One important issue is that low survival and residential rate of transferred stem cells in the infracted myocardium blocks the effective advances in cardiac improvement. Many other factors associated with the efficacy of cell replacement therapy for ICM mainly including the route of delivery, the type and number of stem cell infusion, the timing of injection, patient's physical condition, the particular microenvironment onto which the cells are delivered, and clinical condition remain to be addressed. Here we provide an overview of the pros and cons of these transferred cells and discuss the current state of their therapeutic potential. We believe that stem cell translation will be an ideal option for patients following ischemic heart disease in the future.

Tracking stem cells with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: perspectives and considerations

“…110,111 Stem cell therapy has been reported to have beneficial effects in patients who had previously suffered a myocardial infarction. This issue, although controversial and not the focus of the present review, has been recently reviewed by Fisher et al 111 and Wang et al 112 …”

Striated muscle function, regeneration, and repair

“…Recent reviews have nicely summarized the most important clinical trials using autologous cell types [129, 130], which can be broadly grouped into three main categories: 1) skeletal myoblasts, 2) adipose- and bone marrow-derived cells, and 3) Resident cardiac progenitors and cardiosphere-derived cells.…”

“…CSCs are an exceptionally rare c-Kit + /Lin − population, comprising 0.002–0.005% of all cells in the heart, and are typically subcultured from cardiac biopsies [130]. Alternatively, cell clusters termed cardiospheres can be cultured from endocardial biopsies and dissociated to obtain cardiosphere-derived cells, a heterogeneous population predominantly containing c-Kit + /Lin − CSCs and CD105 + /CD90 + /CD45 − non-hematopoietic cardiac mesenchymal cells [148].…”

National multicentric M13 Stem Cell Trial reports negative outcome - Need to look at VSELs as an alternative to bone marrow MNCs for cardiac regeneration

“…Though the outcome is negative, it is important for the scientific community as well as the public to be aware of it. The results were not surprising as similar outcome was reported by other groups also3. I was disappointed by the discussion which was expected to comprehend recent progress in the field since 2007, lessons learnt and the forward path for the translation of stem cells in the country.…”