Myocardial restoration: is it the cell or the architecture or both?

Myocardial infarction is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Cardiac cell therapy has been introduced to clinical trials for more than ten years but its results are still controversial. Tissue engineering has addressed some limitations of cell therapy and appears to be a promising solution for cardiac regeneration. In this review, we would like to summarize the current understanding about the therapeutic effect of cell therapy and tissue engineering under purview of functional and structural aspects, highlighting actual roles of each therapy towards clinical application.