Bringing cardiovascular cell-based therapy to clinical application: perspectives based on a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Cell Therapy Working Group meeting.

This article reviews the progress in cell therapy for cardiovascular disease and examines the opportunities to accelerate the process to clinical application. It draws from a meeting of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Translation of Cell-based Therapies for Cardiovascular Disease in August 2004 to assess the status of clinical studies of cell-based therapies for cardiovascular disease, to determine the gaps in knowledge and barriers that prevent the implementation of well-designed and safe clinical studies, and to identify the areas of opportunity to apply cell-based therapies for cardiovascular disease to facilitate the clinical implementation of cell-based therapies for cardiovascular disease. We present the perspectives of experts in stem cell biology, cardiovascular physiology, cardiology, clinical research, and regulatory issues confronting the field of cell therapy for cardiovascular disease.