Stem Cells and Their Potential in Cell-Based Cardiac Therapies

Stem cells are potential agents for the treatment of myocardial infarcts among other heart diseases. Over the past decade, the scientific community has extensively used a wide variety of cells and examined their capacity to both regenerate the infarcted myocardium and improve functionally the diseased hearts. Some of the cells used include skeletal myoblasts, bone marrow–derived cells, adult cardiac resident stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and both mouse and human embryonic stem cells (Nat Biotechnol 2005;23:845-856). The reported cardiogenic capacity of the utilitized stem cells is assayed both in vitro through the use of differentiation paradigms and in vivo through transplantation into a variety of animal models of cardiac disease. The purpose of this review article is to summarize recent stem cell applications in cell-based cardiac therapies and their outcomes.