Regenerative Strategies for Myocardial Infarction and Their Present Clinical Application

Early revascularization and contemporary medical management for myocardial infarction (MI) have significantly improved patients' survival and performance. However, despite significant advances in MI therapies, several challenges remain in improving cardiac recovery and optimizing long-term clinical outcomes, including persistent cardiomyocyte loss, adverse ventricular remodeling, and subsequent cardiac complications. These have prompted increasing exploration of regenerative approaches for MI, which focus on repairing, regenerating, and/or replacing damaged myocardial tissue to restore cardiac structure and function. This includes stem cell-based therapies, cell-free approaches, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and blood-based regenerative strategies. While significant progress has been made in both preclinical and clinical studies of these regenerative therapies, further research is required to optimize their therapeutic efficacy. This review provides a summary of the recent advances, clinical progress, and translational limitations of some of the commonly investigated regenerative therapies for MI.