Route TESI

Abstract

Imagine driving to Santa Monica, CA, from Chicago, IL. How can one determine the most efficient route to get to the destination? Is it the shortest distance? The most highways? The least construction routes? The most scenic routes? All the parameters need to be taken into account when evaluating the trajectory toward the destination. Article, see p 1139 In this issue of Circulation Research , Kanelidis et al1 investigated the impact of cell delivery route for mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to reach their destination, that is, the heart. Using a meta-analysis approach, they first confirmed that MSC therapy is indeed effective in improving left ventricular ejection fraction and reducing infarct size after myocardial infarction (MI) in rodents, swine, and human studies. Next, to determine which route is the most efficient (in this case, for achieving therapeutic effect), Kanelidis et al1 conducted a meta-analysis focusing on the impact of the delivery route on the therapeutic outcomes in swine and human studies. They found that transendocardial stem cell injection (TESI) was the most efficient in improving left ventricular ejection fraction and reducing the infarct size after acute MI in pigs and humans and chronic MI in pigs. The study has several important implications. First, it provides strong evidence that cardiac MSC therapy can improve cardiac function and can also reduce the infarct size after an MI throughout the various species examined, including humans. Meanwhile, it is very interesting to find that the more advanced the species …