Stem cell therapy for heart failure: Medical breakthrough, or dead end?

Figure 1 Schematic of the Framingham criteria. A: Major criteria; B: Minor criteria. In order to diagnose heart failure, 2 major criteria or 1 major criterion with 2 minor criteria must be present[4].

Figure 2 Representation of various stem cell lineages. Embryonic stem cells are totipotent and differentiate into many types of adult stem cells. Adult stem cells further differentiate into hematopoietic bone marrow-derived stem cells, cardiac stem cells and skeletal myoblasts. By introducing transcription factors to mature somatic cells, we can induce specialized cells to become pluripotent cells again, which can subsequently be differentiated into any desired cell phenotype. iPSCs: Induced pluripotent cells; CDC: Cardiosphere-derived cell; MSC: Mesenchymal stem cell; BMMNC: Bone marrow mononuclear cell.

Figure 3 Schematic depicting the common routes of administration of cells in humans. On the left, we can appreciate the intracoronary technique and cells embedded in a three-dimensional scaffold, placed on the epicardium. On the right, we can appreciate the intravenous, transendocardial and intramyocardial techniques.