MSC immune tolerance in cellular cardiomyoplasty.

During the past several years, there have been increasing experimental and early clinical observations indicating that allogeneic, and even xenogeneic, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) may be useful for cellular cardiomyoplasty. Although the immune tolerance of MSCs is well established in various in vitro studies, controversies on the in vivo immune tolerance of MSCs persist. Confirmation of the feasibility of allogeneic cellular cardiomyoplasty will have vast clinical implications, since it will provide convenient "off-the-shelf" donor cells, as a vehicle for gene therapy, and avoid the need to use dysfunctional autologous MSCs in senile and/or disabled patients.