Cardiovascular diseases have been the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in adults in the developed part of the world and in Slovenia for decades. If the blood flow is interrupted for more than 20-30 minutes during a heart attack, the consequences are irreversible, as the heart cells die. The naturally present regenerative capacity of human cardiac muscle tissue is too weak to be able to compensate for extensive tissue loss. Cell therapy enables for the first time, with the exception of heart transplants, we to tackle and resolve the actual cause instead of just relieving symptoms. The main purpose of this thesis is to describe the different cell types and their suitability for heart regeneration, and further challenges that will need to be addressed before heart regeneration cell therapy becomes effective and widespread therapy for heart regeneration after heart attack. Various donor cell types are suitable for heart regeneration with cell therapy - from somatic stem (progenitor) cells, to induced pluripotent stem cells and transdifferentiated cells. There is probably no ideal cell type that would be suitable for all patients. Further studies are likely to focus more on the use of programmed cells. In addition to the suitable selection of donor cells, the methods of cell delivery, cell survival, and tissue growth need to be improved to increase the effectiveness of heart regeneration cell therapy.
|
