Inflammatory responses after intracoronary mononuclear BM cell therapy in swine

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of intracoronary injection of mononuclear BM cells (mBMCs) on inflammatory mediators in swine with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in two groups. Group 1 received the therapy immediately after AMI, but group 2 received it after 3 weeks. The levels of cytokines and heart functions, respectively, were examined 3 weeks after cell therapy. The serum levels of TNF-alpha and IL-8 were significantly lower than in the control group: in contrast, IL-10 was significantly elevated in the cell recipients, especially in group 1. TNF-alpha correlated with IL-8 between groups. The ventricular functions were significantly improved. These results show that although the intracoronary injection of mBMCs induces a marked short-term inflammatory response in the acute stage, mBMCs may play an anti-inflammatory role topically and systematically and early cell therapy may be preferable.