Therapeutic opportunities for cell cycle re-entry and cardiac regeneration.

Over the last two decades, considerable effort has been made to better understand putative regulators and molecular switches that govern the cell cycle in attempts to reactivate cell cycle progression of cardiac muscle. Rapid advancements on the field of stem cycle biology including evidence of cardiac progenitors within the adult myocardium itself and reports of cardiomyocyte DNA synthesis, which each suggest that the adult myocardium may in fact have the capacity for de novo myocyte regeneration. Augmenting cardiomyocyte number by targeting specific cell cycle regulatory genes or by stimulating cardiac progenitor cells to differentiate into cardiac muscle may be of therapeutic value in repopulating the adult myocardium with functionally active cells in patients with end-stage heart failure. Advancements in the area of cardiomyocyte cell cycle control and regeneration and their therapeutic potential are discussed.