Mesenchymal stromal cells and cardiovascular regeneration

Adipose tissue is emerging as an advantageous source of adult stem cells, with potential utility for cardiovascular regeneration. This is mainly due to the presence of adult multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) within the heterogeneous population of adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs). ADSCs are able to induce a significant structural and functional recovery of ischemic myocardial and skeletal muscle tissue. In particular, transplanted ADSCs facilitate tissue self-healing and self-renewal through transdifferentiation (or maybe fusion) into resident cells. They also secrete paracrine factors, including angiogenic growth factors such as hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which are thought to be predominantly responsible for the functional benefit conferred by ADSC transplantation. Currently, the therapeutic potential of ADSCs is in the use of engineered cells to overexpress specific genes involved in proliferative as well as myogenic and angiogenic differentiation processes