Grant: Project Grant

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Unfortunately, there is no permanent solution to this problem. Recently, stem cell-based therapies have shown potential to repair the injured heart following a heart attack. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from bone marrow of young and healthy donors have emerged as a novel treatment option for heart repair. After transplantation, MSCs can suppress the host immune response and survive in the heart. However, the reports from recent preclinical and clinical studies have been disappointing, as the donor cells after transplantation were rejected by the host immune system that impaired the benefits of MSCs-based therapies. Hence, to preserve the benefits of stem cell-based therapies for heart repair there is a need to develop strategies to prevent rejection of transplanted MSCs. The research proposed in the current application focuses on understanding the reasons of rejection of transplanted donor derived MSCs in the heart. This will help us to develop strategies to prevent rejection and improve the survival of implanted stem cells in the heart.