Trials and tribulations of cell therapy for heart failure: an update on ongoing trials.

Heart failure (HF) remains a leading cause of mortality, responsible for 13% of all deaths worldwide. The prognosis for patients with HF is poor, with only a 50% survival rate within 5 years. A major challenge of ischaemia-driven HF is the loss of cardiomyocytes, compounded by the minimal regenerative capacity of the adult heart.

Intravenous infusions of mesenchymal stromal cells have cumulative beneficial effects in a porcine model of chronic ischaemic cardiomyopathy.

Aims: The development of cell therapy as a widely available clinical option for ischaemic cardiomyopathy is hindered by the invasive nature of current cell delivery methods. Furthermore, the rapid disappearance of cells after transplantation provides a cogent rationale for using repeated cell doses, which, however, has not been done thus far in clinical trials because it is not feasible with invasive approaches. The goal of this translational study was to test the therapeutic utility of the intravenous route for cell delivery.

Neonatal Cardiac Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Promote Recovery of Infarcted Myocardium through CD44 Mediated FoxP3 T-Regulatory Cells after Vascular Infusion.

Intravenous infusion has been used as the method of cell delivery in many preclinical studies as well as in some early clinical trials. Among its advantages are broad distribution, ability to handle a large-volume infusion, and ease of access. Progenitor cells used in cell-based therapy act through their secretomes, rather than their ability to differentiate into lineage-specific cell type.