Stem cells for the therapy of ischemic heart disease: advances and prospects

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) accelerates death of cardiomyocytes and leads to the onset of cardiac failure. Due to the application of stem cells, there exists a potential for the regeneration of a damaged myocardium. Here we present a brief review of the modern data on the application of different types of stem cells for the IHD therapy. We pay special attention to the type of stem cells which is most preferable for the clinical application, namely, to the mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), including their advantages, clinical trials, as well as the strategy for the MSC optimization in order to boost their regenerative potential.