About the Disease
Heart failure occurs when the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Ischemia refers to reduced blood flow (often from blocked arteries), which can damage heart tissue, cause scarring, and weaken the heart’s pumping ability. Together, they lead to symptoms like fatigue, shortness of breath, fluid retention, reduced strength, and risk of hospitalization. Stem cell therapy aims to repair or regenerate damaged heart muscle, reduce scar tissue, improve heart function, reduce inflammation, and ultimately improve quality of life in heart failure and ischemic cardiomyopathy.
Institutes / Trials Offering Stem Cell Therapy for Heart Failure & Ischemia
- University of Louisville (UofL) / UofL Health – Louisville, Kentucky, USA
- Leading the CATO trial, a Phase II multicenter clinical trial using umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) delivered intravenously. Participants have ischemic cardiomyopathy (heart attack scarring + heart failure). UofL+1
- Centers involved also include University of Miami and Texas Heart Institute. Outcomes being evaluated include improvements in heart structure by MRI, exercise tolerance, quality of life. UofL+1
- Stanford University / CCTRN Trials – California, USA
- Running the SENECA trial (Phase I) for patients with chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy, testing allogenic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Stanford Medicine
- Also the CONCERT-HF trial (Phase II) which uses either MSCs, cardiac stem cells (CSCs), or both, in patients with ischemic heart failure. Stanford Medicine+2NHLBI, NIH+2
- University of Florida (UF) – Florida, USA
- Part of the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN). UF participates in multiple stem cell clinical trials for heart failure, including CONCERT-HF, evaluating bone marrow or donor stem cells, etc. regenerative.medicine.ufl.edu+2NHLBI, NIH+2
- China (Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, HelpThera / NCT03763136)
- A Phase 1/2 clinical trial to treat heart failure with allogeneic hPSC-CM (human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Cells are injected into myocardium during surgery. ICHGCP
