Open AccessThe therapeutic potential of stem cells in heart disease
Author(s) -
Strauer B. E.,
Brehm M.,
Schannwell C. M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
cell proliferation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1365-2184
pISSN - 0960-7722
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2184.2008.00480.x
Subject(s) - medicine , heart failure , myocardial infarction , stem cell , cardiology , ischemic cardiomyopathy , stem cell therapy , bone marrow , coronary artery disease , cardiomyopathy , bone marrow stem cell , transplantation , heart disease , cardiac function curve , dilated cardiomyopathy , ejection fraction , genetics , biology
. Coronary heart disease and chronic heart failure are common and have an increasing frequency. Although interventional and conventional drug therapy may delay ventricular remodelling, there is no basic therapeutic regime available for preventing or even reversing this process. Chronic coronary artery disease and heart failure impairs quality of life and are associated with subsequent worsening of the cardiac pump function. Numerous studies within the past few years have been demonstrated, that the intracoronary stem cell therapy has to be considered as a safe therapeutic procedure in heart disease, when destroyed and/or compromised heart muscle must be regenerated. This kind of cell therapy with autologous bone marrow cells is completely justified ethically, except for the small numbers of patients with direct or indirect bone marrow disease (e.g. myeloma, leukaemic infiltration) in whom there would be lesions of mononuclear cells. Several preclinical as well as clinical trials have shown that transplantation of autologous bone marrow cells or precursor cells improved cardiac function after myocardial infarction and in chronic coronary heart disease. The age of infarction seems to be irrelevant to regenerative potency of stem cells, since stem cells therapy in old infarctions (many years old) is almost equally effective in comparison to previous infarcts. Further indications are non‐ischemic cardiomyopathy (dilative cardiomyopathy) and heart failure due to hypertensive heart disease.