Cardiovascular diseases: recent developments in regenerative medicine

Abstract

The heart failure is one of leading cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. More than 5 million patients are suffering from chronic heart failure post myocardial infarction caused due to ischemic heart disease [1]. The disease develops over a period of time due to loss of cardiomyocytes. The condition is further aggravated due to complications related to obesity, hypertension, diabetes, smoking and alcohol consumption. The currently available treatments regime include application of β-blockers, targeting of rennin-angiotension-aldosterone system using ACE (angiotensin converting enzymes) inhibitors, ARBs (angiotensin II receptor blockers) and aldosterone antagonists [2]. In selected patients cardiac resynchronization therapy and implantable defibrillators are also recommended [3]. Though, the treatment improves condition of patients symptomatically, no remarkable change in mortality or morbidity is observed. Heart transplant is not feasible option due to unavailability of donors and possible immune rejection. New interventions, based on stem cell driven regeneration appear to be promising in current scenario. The cardiac regeneration can bring endogenous repair through formation of new cardiomyocytes and improved vascularisation.