Adipose tissue-derived stem cells expressing cardiac progenitor markers: The best source of mesenchymal stem cells for cardiovascular repair?

At the present time a wide variety of stem cell lineages have been explored for the treatment of ischemic cardiomyopathy; currently, the reference cells for cardiac cell therapy are cardiac stem cells (CSCs), because these cells have a specific differentiation commitment into cardiac tissues [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. In comparison with other cell types, this intrinsic commitment is inversely related to the capacity to differentiate into diverse tissues (Fig. 1). Despite this efficient differentiation, a specific immunophenotype for CSC identification is yet to be meticulously defined. In addition, the use of CSC in a clinical setting is severely hindered by their availability. These obstacles to the use of CSC for cardiac cell therapy have prompted the search for readily more attainable stem cell sources, even if they have a broader differentiation spectrum, such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).