Novel Use of Autologous Cell Therapy in Ischemic Heart Failure

Heart failure management is a rapidly progressing field that has dramatically changed over the past several decades. The development of guideline-directed medical therapy has allowed those with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction to have far better clinical outcomes. Despite these advances, heart failure remains a very prevalent and morbid condition with hundreds of thousands of deaths attributed to heart failure in the United States each year. The need for novel therapeutics remains vital to improve outcomes and help those who continue to have persistent symptoms despite optimal medical therapy. The advent of cell therapy for heart failure has sparked great interest over the years due to its potential to not just temper, but reverse adverse cardiac remodeling. Many preclinical and clinical trials have explored the use of pluripotent stem cells for both ischemic and nonischemic etiologies of heart failure. There have been several pivotal trials in the world of cell therapy that have failed to meet their primary endpoints but have still paved the way to show both the safety of cell therapy and signal towards mortality and quality of life benefits. Although cell therapy has not yet been successful to become a staple of heart failure management, the field continues to be studied and signals potential to have a place in the management of even the sickest heart failure patients.