Stem cells for the heart, are we there yet?

F. Timmermans, Johan De Sutter, T. Gillebert

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Although several repair mechanisms have been described in the human heart, all fall too short to prevent clinical heart disease in most acute or chronic pathological cardiac conditions. Moreover, despite many breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine, the complications of a myocardial infarction such as chronic heart failure remains a serious worldwide problem.

Bone marrow stem cells could provide for a promising strategy to restore myocardial infarctions and prevent postinfarct congestive heart failure, because there is growing body of evidence that bone marrow stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells, can generate new cardiomyocytes in animals and humans.

In this review, we will discuss important issues on stem cell therapy for cardiac regeneration after myocardial infarction, which might be of paramount importance when considering future human trials.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)176-185
Number of pages10
JournalCardiology
Volume100
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 2003

Keywords

  • stem cells
  • myocardial infarction
  • delivery
  • differentiation
  • adverse effects

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