Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

Stem cell therapy (SCT) has generated a keen interest owing to its unique self-renewal and immune privileged characteristics. There is need for further clinical studies to investigate long-term clinical outcomes of STC, such as in heart failure (HF) and on cardiovascular mortality. The role of co-morbidities and risk factors on results of SCT, which may influence the results need further evaluation. This review aims to emphasize on the role of SCT in providing the potential for cardiac regeneration. It seems that the ability of stem cells to differentiate into specialized cell types has made this therapy popular for treatment of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as HF and myocardial infarction. Clinical trials with stem/progenitor cell-based SCT for HF have found encouraging results, but with many discrepancies. The creation of induced pluripotent stem cells is an alternative for which adult cells are transformed into pluripotent stem cells, similar to embryonic stem cells, but the occurrence of cancer could be an adverse effect. Stem cells derived from heart have also undergone clinical testing and have found promising results with an improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), an improvement in the left ventricular mass that was viable, reduced scar mass, improved quality of life, and improved safety of the procedure due to better regional contractility. Meta-analysis of studies has reported that MSC therapy is a frequently used treatment option for achieving a better prognosis in patients with HF. However, due to reported adverse effects, patients are often hesitant to consider this treatment. Management of lifestyle factors and co-morbidities before SCT may improve the outcome among patients receiving SCT.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease; myocardial infarction, heart failure; mesenchymal stem cell; prognosis, controlled trials, regenerative medicine, systematic, treatment.