Hepatocyte growth factor modification enhances the anti-arrhythmic properties of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Background/aims: Chronic myocardial infarction (MI) results in the formation of arrhythmogenic substrates, causing lethal ventricular arrhythmia (VA). We aimed to determine whether mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) carrying a hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene modification (HGF-MSCs) decrease the levels of arrhythmogenic substrates and reduce the susceptibility to developing VA compared with unmodified MSCs and PBS in a swine infarction model.

Methods: The left descending anterior artery was balloon-occluded to establish an MI model.