Heart disease still remains one of the leading causes of mortality in the
developed world. Therefore, finding the right cure for cardiovascular disease remains a
current umnet medical need. However, the recent advances in understanding the
molecular basis of myocardial dysfunction, the characterization of novel properties of
cardiac progenitors, the identification of the plasticity of several subpopulations of
cardiac cells and the development of more efficient gene transfer technologies, has
made heart failure another excellent candidate for cell and gene-based therapies.
Keywords: Acute myocardial infarction, β-adrenergic system, Calcium cycling
proteins, Cardiac stem cells, Gene therapy, Heart failure, Hematopoietic stem
cells, Insertional mutagenesis, Lentiviral vector, Retroviral integration.
