Abstract
See related article, pages 428–436 The article by Losordo et al1 in this issue of Circulation Research is an important addition to the relatively small body of literature in clinical cardiac stem cell therapy. Although the number of patients in the trial by Losordo et al is fairly small, only a handful of similarly sized trials have been published.2–4 In the recent past, the merit of performing clinical trials of cardiac cell therapy was debated in the literature.5,6 However, the study of regenerative cardiac medicine continues to move forward, despite the fact that opponents have highlighted the many challenges in the field, focusing mainly on the lack of mechanistic data. Nevertheless, other questions, such as the best cell type, cell dose, and delivery modality, are beginning to be answered. The performance of larger-scale studies is now being proposed. Interestingly, a large phase III trial of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (ABMMNCs) is ready to be initiated in Europe (Oral presentation by Anthony Mathur, PhD; June 2011, Eighth International Symposium on Stem Cell Therapy and Cardiovascular Innovations, Madrid, Spain). Most clinical trials in cardiac cell therapy have been performed with ABMMNCs. Although the use of this mixed cell population may be considered a relatively broad or less sophisticated approach, ABMMNCs continue to be used because of the previous success with this approach. However, investigators are also seeking new, possibly more potent cell types in bone marrow subpopulations, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase bright (ALDHbr) cells7 (characterized by a common enzyme), mesenchymal cells (a single bone marrow cell population), or as in the trial by Losordo et al, CD34+ …
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call