Unchain my heart: the scientific foundations of cardiac repair

In humans, the biological limitations to cardiac regenerative growth create both a clinical imperative–to offset cell death in acute ischemic injury and chronic heart failure–and a clinical opportunity; that is, for using cells, genes, and proteins to rescue cardiac muscle cell number or in other ways promote more efficacious cardiac repair. Recent experimental studies and early-phase clinical trials lend credence to the visionary goal of enhancing cardiac repair as an achievable therapeutic target.