Cell Sources in Cardiac Tissue Engineering: Current Choices

Abstract

The past decade has evidenced numerous developments in the treatment of heart diseases; however many patients with chronic heart failure suffer from low quality of life. Therapeutic methods, including drug-delivery as well as heart transplantation, have been used to improve quality of life. Cell therapy and tissue engineering have been recently introduced to the field of medicine as a novel therapeutic approach. Treatment of heart diseases has seen novel development through the introduction of cell therapy approaches. Based on the evidence, cell therapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cardiac diseases. Since the first cell transplant to patients, different types of (stem) cells have been studied. This study aims to provide a comprehensive review of different types of cells and their roles in cardiac cell-based therapy.