Preconditioned dental pulp stem cells: a promising candidate to repair cardiac tissue after myocardial infarction (R-6413)

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause of heart failure worldwide. Despite the elaborate advances made in the treatment of coronary artery disease, i.e. the principle cause of MI, the increasing amount of survivors suffering from complications associated with myocardial necrosis urged the need for a more regenerative, cell-based approach. Although bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) have shown great promise in animal models of MI, conflicting outcomes were found in long-term clinical trials. The increasing controversy regarding their exact mechanism of action in combination with their invasive isolation procedure sparked the search for alternative stem cell sources. This study proposes human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) as an alternative cell-based therapy for MI, as these cells are readily available from extracted third molars and display angiogenic properties. This study aims to improve the cardiovascular properties of hDPSCs by stimulating the Aktsignaling pathway, as its stimulation has been shown to (1) promote the survival of transplanted cells and (2) mediate cardioprotective effects. The cardiac phenotype of preconditioned hDPSCs as well as their impact on scar tissue formation, cardiomyocyte survival and migration will be evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Our findings will not only have implications for the cell-based treatment of MI, but will also lead to a better understanding of the safe use of DPSCs in other clinical applications.

Keywords:MESENCHYMAL TISSUES, STEM CELLS

Disciplines:Morphological sciences