Delivery of stem cells into heart muscle after heart attack may enhance cardiac repair and reverse injury
Thursday, November 20, 2014 - 15:01
in Health & Medicine
Delivering stem cell factor directly into damaged heart muscle after a heart attack may help repair and regenerate injured tissue. A novel SCF gene transfer delivery system induced the recruitment and expansion of adult c-Kit positive (cKit+) cardiac stem cells to injury sites that reversed heart attack damage in a pre-clinical model. In addition, the gene therapy improved cardiac function, decreased heart muscle cell death, increased regeneration of heart tissue blood vessels, and reduced the formation of heart tissue scarring.