ABSTRACT
The adult heart has limited regenerative capacity, and therefore any significant cell loss due to ischemic heart disease, viral infection or immunopathologic conditions is irreversible and may lead to progressive and irretrievable loss of ventricular function and finally to the development of heart failure. Bearing in mind that congestive heart failure is a growing epidemic that affects more than 5 million Americans1 and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, it is not surprising that much effort has been spent on the development of different therapeutic modalities. Yet, despite advances in pharmacologic, interventional and surgical therapeutic measures, the prognosis for these patients remains poor. Moreover, given the chronic lack of donors limiting the number of end-stage heart failure patients who could benefit from heart transplantation, the development of new therapeutic paradigms for these patients has become imperative.
