Plenary Sessions

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(4) Futurability of Regeneration Therapy

Chairperson: Issei Komuro (Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
  Charles E. Murry (University of Washington, USA)

Regeneration therapy has attracted attention for over 30 years. Angiogenesis, which is endogenously occurring even in adult human, can be induced. Implantation of several types of cells such as bone marrow mononuclear cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and mesenchymal cells from adipose tissue, has been successful to induce angiogenesis and improved ischemic limbs. In contrast, the heart does not regenerate in human. Although it has been known that there are several kinds of stem cells in the heart, they do not function to regenerate the heart with unknown reasons. The hearts of zebrafish and newborn mice can regenerate by re-activating proliferative ability of existed cardiomyocytes. Alternative strategy of cardiac regeneration is the transplantation of cardiomyocytes. Now we can get many cardiomyocytes of patients using iPS cells. Although their immaturity is still a big problem, they could be beneficial by secreting factors to induce angiogenesis or protect cardiomyocytes. We will discuss about the future of cardiovascular regeneration.

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