Μια συνοπτική επισκόπηση των κυτταρικών θεραπειών με βλαστοκύτταρα στην καρδιακή ανεπάρκεια. A brief overview of stem cell based therapies for heart failure

Περίληψη

Despite the advances in pharmacological treatment and surgical techniques over the past decades, heart failure remains a challenge for the clinician, as far as recovery of cardiomyocytes after cardiac injury is not feasible. Heart transplantation represents the gold standard treatment for terminal heart failure patients, but the method is limited by the shortage of organ donors, challenges in candidate selection, as well the patients’ comorbidities potentially contraindicating the postoperative immunosuppression. Thus research was motivated for alternative treatment approaches for patients affected by heart failure. Cell-based regenerative therapies offered a promising contribution, but there is still the need for reproducible results of clinical studies with at least midterm follow up, for safety and efficacy.

The identification and selection of the most suitable stem cell type for heart regeneration represents the main challenge of this approach. We herein provide a short overview regarding the current status of stem cell based therapies for heart failure.