Open AccessTurning regenerative technologies into treatment to repair myocardial injuries
Author(s) -
Carotenuto Felicia,
Teodori Laura,
Maccari Anna Maria,
Delbono Luciano,
Orlando Giuseppe,
Di Nardo Paolo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of cellular and molecular medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.44
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1582-4934
pISSN - 1582-1838
DOI - 10.1111/jcmm.14630
Subject(s) - regenerative medicine , medicine , cell therapy , stem cell , context (archaeology) , cardiac cell , tissue engineering , neuroscience , intensive care medicine , bioinformatics , biology , biomedical engineering , microbiology and biotechnology , paleontology
Regenerative therapies including stem cell treatments hold promise to allow curing patients affected by severe cardiac muscle diseases. However, the clinical efficacy of stem cell therapy remains elusive, so far. The two key roadblocks that still need to be overcome are the poor cell engraftment into the injured myocardium and the limited knowledge of the ideal mixture of bioactive factors to be locally delivered for restoring heart function. Thus, therapeutic strategies for cardiac repair are directed to increase the retention and functional integration of transplanted cells in the damaged myocardium or to enhance the endogenous repair mechanisms through cell‐free therapies. In this context, biomaterial‐based technologies and tissue engineering approaches have the potential to dramatically impact cardiac translational medicine. This review intends to offer some consideration on the cell‐based and cell‐free cardiac therapies, their limitations and the possible future developments.