Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Aug 26, 2015; 7(8): 454-465
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i8.454
Adipose tissue-derived stem cells as a therapeutic tool for cardiovascular disease
Etsu Suzuki, Daishi Fujita, Masao Takahashi, Shigeyoshi Oba, Hiroaki Nishimatsu
Etsu Suzuki, Institute of Medical Science, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki 216-8512, Japan
Daishi Fujita, Masao Takahashi, Shigeyoshi Oba, the Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan
Hiroaki Nishimatsu, the Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan
Author contributions: Suzuki E, Fujita D, Takahashi M, Oba S and Nishimatsu H contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There exist no conflicts of interest in this study.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Etsu Suzuki, MD, PhD, Institute of Medical Science, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki 216-8512, Japan. esuzuki-tky@umin.ac.jp
Received: May 11, 2015
Peer-review started: May 11, 2015
First decision: June 3, 2015
Revised: June 15, 2015
Accepted: June 18, 2015
Article in press: June 19, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Processing time: 108 Days and 2.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have been used for the treatment of cardiovascular disease with the efficacy of ADSC implantation demonstrated in animal models. However, the mechanisms underlying the capacity of ADSCs for regenerating the cardiovascular system remain controversial. ADSCs may differentiate into blood vessels and cardiomyocytes, fuse with other cell types, obtaining the characteristics of those cells, and secrete paracrine factors that have proangiogenic and/or antiapoptotic activities. This review also discusses recently initiated clinical trials using autologous ADSCs.