On the existence of cardiomesenchymal stem cells

Navarro Betancourt, Refugio; Hernández Gutiérrez, Salomón

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2015.02.011

On the existence of cardiomesenchymal stem cells

Journal

Medical Hypotheses

ISSN

0306-9877

Date Issued

2015

Author(s)

Navarro Betancourt, Refugio

Type

Resource Types::text::journal::journal article

DOI

10.1016/j.mehy.2015.02.011

URL

https://scripta.up.edu.mx/handle/20.500.12552/2329

Abstract

The most efficient cells for cardiac regeneration are myocardium-resident cardiac stem cells. However, the limited availability of these cells restricts their utility for cardiac cellular therapy. Mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into a wide variety of tissues, but it is not simple to accurately direct cell differentiation into a specific lineage, such as cardiac tissue; this renders a low efficiency for cardiac regeneration therapy. Given the heterogeneity of mesenchymal stem cells, it may be possible to find specific stem cell subpopulations with a definite differentiation capacity toward cardiac lineage. A parameter to assess cardiac differentiation specificity could be surface marker expression; a population with an immunophenotype similar to cardiac stem cells may have a superior therapeutic value than unsorted mesenchymal stem cells. We hypothesize the existence of a cell line that combines the expression of cardiac stem cell surface markers with those of mesenchymal stem cells, a suitable name for this population is cardiomesenchymal stem cells (CMSC); such cells would be ideal for cardiac regeneration.