Cardiac stem cells: Current knowledge and future prospects

Regenerative medicine is the field concerned with the repair and restoration of the integrity of damaged human tissues as well as whole organs.Since the inception of the field several decades ago,regenerative medicine therapies,namely stem cells,have received significant attention in preclinical studies and clinical trials.Apart from their known potential for differentiation into the various body cells,stem cells enhance the organ's intrinsic regenerative capacity by altering its environment,whether by exogenous injection or introducing their products that modulate endogenous stem cell function and fate for the sake of regeneration.Recently,research in cardiology has highlighted the evidence for the existence of cardiac stem and progenitor cells(CSCs/CPCs).The global burden of cardiovascular diseases’morbidity and mortality has demanded an in-depth understanding of the biology of CSCs/CPCs aiming at improving the outcome for an innovative therapeutic strategy.This review will discuss the nature of each of the CSCs/CPCs,their environment,their interplay with other cells,and their metabolism.In addition,important issues are tackled concerning the potency of CSCs/CPCs in relation to their secretome for mediating the ability to influence other cells.Moreover,the review will throw the light on the clinical trials and the preclinical studies using CSCs/CPCs and combined therapy for cardiac regeneration.Finally,the novel role of nanotechnology in cardiac regeneration will be explored.

Stem cell therapies in cardiac diseases: Current status and future possibilities

Cardiovascular diseases represent the world’s leading cause of death. In thisheterogeneous group of diseases, ischemic cardiomyopathies are the mostdevastating and prevalent, estimated to cause 17.9 million deaths per year.Despite all biomedical efforts, there are no effective treatments that can replacethe myocytes lost during an ischemic event or progression of the disease to heartfailure. In this context, cell therapy is an emerging therapeutic alternative to treatcardiovascular diseases by cell administration, aimed at cardiac regeneration andrepair. In this review, we will cover more than 30 years of cell therapy in cardiology,presenting the main milestones and drawbacks in the field and signalingfuture challenges and perspectives. The outcomes of cardiac cell therapies arediscussed in three distinct aspects: The search for remuscularization byreplacement of lost cells by exogenous adult cells, the endogenous stem cell era,which pursued the isolation of a progenitor with the ability to induce heart repair,and the utilization of pluripotent stem cells as a rich and reliable source ofcardiomyocytes. Acellular therapies using cell derivatives, such as microvesiclesand exosomes, are presented as a promising cell-free therapeutic alternative.

Transdifferentiation of Fetal Liver-delivered Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Cardiomyocyte-like Cells

Objectives To explore the possibility to induce mesenchymal stem cells from human fetal livers （FMSCs） to differentiate along cardiac lineage and the way to obtain high rate of differentiation. Methods Cells from passage 6-9 were plated at the density of 1.5 × 10^4/cm^2 and were treated with the combination of 5-azacytine（5-aza）, retinoitic acid（RA） and Dimethylsulfoxide （DMSO） in different doses when near confluence. 24 hours later, the treatment was removed by changing into normal medium without inducers. Different culture conditions were tried, including temperature, oxygen content and medium. Results When FMSCs were treated with highdose combination （ 5-aza 50 μM ＋RA 10-1 μM ＋ DMSO 1%） and modified combination（5-aza 50 μM ＋RA 10-3 μM ＋ DMSO 0.8 %） in cardiac differentiation medium （CDM）, at 37℃ and 20% 02, the cardiac differentiation was induced. When near confluence, cells became round and tended to gather together to form ball-like structures. 3 weeks after treatment, the cells were harvested and stained with anti-desmin and cardiac troponin I antibodies, and about 40% of the cells were positively stained. No beating cells observed during observation. Conclusions FMSCs cardiac have lineage the potential to differentiate along , and the stimulus for the cardiac differentiation is different from those for MSCs from different species.

The therapeutic potential of stem cell therapy for myocardial infraction

It has been researched that myocardial infarction(MI)has drastically affected patients all over the world.The current guidelines of the medical treatments including PTCA or CABG just improve the condition and reduce damage to an extent.In the new studies and recent updates on myocardial stem cells,it has been researched that myocardial stem cells have regenerative capacity.Stem cell therapy used in cardiac disease management shows a promising and novel approach for cardiac tissues,cardiac muscle repair,and regeneration.Furthermore,it’s been observed that the stem cell-derived paracrine factors help in regulating and remodeling the coronary artery inflammation and cardiac tissue generation in the MI region.Here,we highlight recent findings and discuss how they use stem cell therapy during MI and heart disease.