Impact of Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Cardiovascular Research

Figure 1

Use of UCBMSCs in the field of cardiovascular research. Scheme summarizing the main preclinical and clinical settings in which UCBMSCs are being employed. In brief, since the first transplant in 1988, UCB has increasingly been employed as an alternative source of HPCs for transplantation against human blood diseases. UCB also contains MSCs which have garnered a great deal of attention to treat cardiovascular diseases such as idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and Buerger’s disease. Additionally, considerable preclinical efforts have been directed to explore basic UCBMSC properties and molecular mechanisms in vitro, as well as their behavior and functions once implanted in vivo. UCB: umbilical cord blood; HPC: hematopoietic progenitor cell; MSC: mesenchymal stem cell; IDCM: idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Designed and hand-drawn by Carolina Gálvez-Montón.