Stem cell therapy for cardiac disease

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality throughout the world. Stem cell therapy offers the potential for significantly reducing the burden of this disease. Areas covered: In this review, we broadly discuss cell therapy for cardiac repair. We describe mammalian cardiac regeneration, and discuss animal models of cardiac disease. The effects of various cell therapies on cardiovascular disease are described. Particular attention is given to adult bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Additional cell populations that have been studied are also described. We provide suggestions of where further advances in the field will be made. We anticipate that the reader will gain a comprehensive knowledge of the context of cell therapy for cardiac disease, will be informed of recent advances, and will have an appreciation of the possible future direction of cellular therapeutics for cardiac disease. Expert opinion: There is a sound rationale behind cell therapy for cardiac repair and animal studies have shown promising results. Early clinical trials have demonstrated that cell therapy is safe, with modest therapeutic efficacy. Carefully designed future trials are required if cell therapy is to progress to mainstream therapy.