[Cell therapy to treat heart failure]

Systolic heart failure is mainly due to a decreased left ventricular systolic function after myocardial infarction. Despite significant improvements in medical management of heart failure, the prognostic remains poor, with a 5-years survival only of 30%.

Current treatments are only able to delay progression toward end-stage heart failure. Heart transplantation is accessible only for selected patients. Thus, in the context of post-myocardial infarction, cell therapy appears to be a new original technique, available for the majority of patients and potentially non-invasive.

After promising results in experimental models, a phase I clinical trial has been conducted in France, showing the feasibility of intracardiac autologous skeletal myoblast implantation. Other studies in Europe and USA are currently testing a variety of cells and delivery systems. A phase II-trial will begin in France.