Towards the standardization of stem cell therapy studies for ischemic heart diseases: Bridging the gap between animal models and the clinical setting

• Type: Another Publication in an International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2017

Authors

Trindade, F (Author) Other; Leite-Moreira AF (Author) FMUP; Ferreira Martins, J (Author) Other; Ferreira, R (Author) Other; Falcao Pires, I (Author) FMUP; Vitorino, R (Author) FMUP

Journal

Title: International Journal of Cardiology

Vol. 228

Pages: 465-480

ISSN: 0167-5273

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 11 Citations

Scopus - 12 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00M-80W

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2016.11.236

Abstract (EN): Today there is an increasing demand for heart transplantations for patients diagnosed with heart failure. Though, shortage of donors as well as the large number of ineligible patients hurdle such treatment option. This, in addition to the considerable number of transplant rejections, has driven the clinical research towards the field of regenerative medicine. Nonetheless, to date, several stem cell therapies tested in animal models fall by the wayside and when they meet the criteria to clinical trials, subjects often exhibit modest improvements. A main issue slowing down the admission of such therapies in the domain of human trials is the lack of protocol standardization between research groups, which hampers comparison between different approaches as well as the lack of thought regarding the clinical translation. In this sense, given the large amount of reports on stem cell therapy studies in animal models reported in the last 3 years, we sought to evaluate their advantages and limitations towards the clinical setting and provide some suggestions for the forthcoming investigations. We expect, with this review, to start a new paradigmon regenerative medicine, by evoking the debate on how to plan novel stem cell therapy studies with animal models in order to achieve more consistent scientific production and accelerate the admission of stem cell therapies in the clinical setting.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 16