Abstract
This cardiovascular section stems from the 6th International Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases held in New York in January 2011. It introduces a number of new cell types and adjunctive means to improve cell-based therapy as well as a couple of reviews on cardiovascular problems. New cell types include adipose-derived stem cells from mediastinal tissue and a mesenchymal stem cell population obtained from the subepithelial layer of the umbilical cord. A clinical study also reports on the 1-year follow-up of intramyocardial injection of MSCs for severe refractory angina.
Adjunctive means to aid cell-based therapies included the use of alginate hydrogels or microspheres. In a pilot feasibility study in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, a self-gelling alginate hydrogel (known as Algisyl-LVR) was used to help augment the left ventricle and restore function. A second study explored the use of alginate microspheres encapsulating glucagon-like peptide-1 expressing MSCs in a landrace pig model of acute myocardial infarction.
There are also two reviews related to critical limb ischemia and acute myocardial infarction. Both provide insight into what we have learned, but more importantly to what will be required to move into phase 3 studies. The field of cardiovascular cell therapy continues to improve, hoping that, as we move in pivotal trials, we will achieve success.