Skip to content
2000
Volume 15, Issue 24
  • ISSN: 1381-6128
  • E-ISSN: 1873-4286

Abstract

Ischemic cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary artery disease and peripheral arterial disease, are significant medical problems worldwide and, in particular, coronary artery disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world. Despite significant progress in revascularization procedures, a substantial number of patients with ischemic cardiovascular diseases are either not candidates for these procedures or can be only partially revascularized. Nearly a decade ago, Asahara et al. [1] identified endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from circulating adult peripheral mononuclear cells. Since then, accumulating evidence indicates that bone marrow- and peripheral blood-derived progenitor/stem cells have therapeutic potential for the treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases such as peripheral arterial diseases and myocardial ischemia. Furthermore, therapeutic application of human pluripotent stem cells such as embryonic stem (ES) and pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for cardiovascular diseases has been investigated recently. The aim of this issue is to provide a review of the basic and clinical advances in therapeutic angiogenesis and regeneration in cardiovascular diseases. In the current issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design, therapeutic angiogenesis and regeneration by progenitor/stem cells are carefully reviewed by the experts who have contributed in this field of research. In the first article by Tanaka and Sata [2], recent findings on the role of vascular progenitor cells, such as EPCs and smooth muscle cell progenitor cells (SMPCs), in cardiovascular disease are overviewed. Matoba and Matsubara [3], who previously conducted TACT study, reported the efficacy and long-term outcome of therapeutic neovascularization by autologous bone marrow cells implantation for PAD patients. In addition, we discussed the abnormalities of EPCs in patients with connective tissue diseases (CTDs) such as systemic scleroderma (SSc) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and reported clinical pilot study of autologous cell therapy for critical digit ischemia in patients with CTDs [4]. Murohara et al. [5] reviewed adipose-derived regenerative cells for therapeutic angiogenesis. Shiba et al. [6] discussed the phenotype of human ES and iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes, the state of preclinical transplantation studies, and potential approaches to overcoming the aforementioned hurdles to clinical application using these stem cells. In the final article by Shimizu et al. [7], cell sheet-based myocardial tissue engineering was reviewed. I wish to thank all the authors for their essential contribution and believe that this issue may be useful for readers working in basic and translational medical science and for clinicians to update information on the trends in the filed of cardiovascular diseases.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/cpd/10.2174/138161209788923831
2009-08-01
2025-05-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/content/journals/cpd/10.2174/138161209788923831
Loading

  • Article Type:
    Research Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test