Functional characterization of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells for treatment of systolic heart failure

Congestive heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although advances in medical therapy, mechanical support and heart transplantation have been made, almost half of all patients with HF succumb to the disease within five years of the initial diagnosis. Therefore, treatment methods need to be identified to restore the structure and function of cardiac muscle. Three patients with HF caused by ischemic cardiomyopathy received human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell (HUC-MSC) intravenous infusion were included in the present study. Two patients demonstrated a 65.1% increase in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at the end of 3 months, which was maintained increasing 47.8% at the end of 12 months post-HUC-MSC intravenous infusion. LVEF of patient 1 decreased slowly in the observation period. This LVEF improvement was associated with significant improvements in the clinical parameters of the New York Heart Association class, and six-minute walk test in the coupled time. The third patient showed significant improvement in the six-minute walk test at the end of 12 months, while the other parameters did not change obviously. There were no severe adverse events during and post-HUC-MSC transplantation. During follow-up, no other immunosuppressive drugs were used. In conclusion, HUC-MSC therapy is a reasonable salvage treatment in HF. Future large-scale randomized clinical trials are likely to be designed to elucidate the efficacy of the HUC-MSC transplantation therapy on HF.