Cell Therapy for Left Ventricular Dysfunction: An Overview for Cardiac Clinicians

Cell therapies specifically targeting heart failure could greatly decrease morbidity and burgeoning health care costs worldwide. Due to the great number of cell types being investigated, navigating the cardiovascular regeneration field can be difficult. This brief review gives an overview of the main cell types being explored for cardiac cell therapy. These include populations from extra-cardiac sources (skeletal myoblasts, bone marrow derived mononuclear cells, endothelial progenitor cells, bone marrow or adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells and embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells as well as newly discovered cardiac stem cell populations (isl1(+), c-kit(+), sca1(+), sca1(+)/pdgfr alpha(+), cardiosphere derived, cardiac side-population and epicardium derived cells). Although clinical trials using both groups of cell sources have been performed, the vast majority of studies have used bone marrow mononuclear cells. The current wave of clinical trials includes large studies refining specifics of bone marrow mononuclear cell therapy and early phase trials of mesenchymal stem cell and cardiac stem cell populations. Embryonic stem cell derived therapies are being studied in large animal models with the aim of swift progression to clinical trials. Lessons learnt from the intense investigation in this infant field have resulted in rapid translational progress and it is likely that several clinical products/protocols for cardiac repair will be available in the not too distant future. (Heart, Lung and Circulation 2012;21:532-542) (C) 2012 Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.