Myocardial regeneration therapy in heart failure: Current status and future therapeutic implications in clinical practice.

Despite multiple treatment regimens the morbidity and mortality of patients with advanced heart failure (HF) have reached pandemic proportions. In an effort to address the root cause of the problem, curative strategies are increasingly being considered. A case in point is the evolution of regenerative medicine technologies aiming to halt or even reverse progressive organ deterioration in the HF setting. The prevailing unmet clinical needs in HF therapy have provided a major incentive for the development of cell-based treatment strategies, which have shown encouraging results in experimental studies. In turn, this has led to a significant international effort in cell-based clinical trials. In order to translate the promise of biotherapies into clinical benefit many more questions need to be addressed. In this review we analyze current clinical experience regarding cell therapy in the setting of ischemic/nonischemic HF and address key issues that could be a guide for future successful cell-based therapeutic application in HF patients in clinical practice.