Not all stem cells are created equal the case for prospective assessment of stem cell potency in the cardiamp heart failure trial

Stem ure (CHF) cell therapy management holds promise as animal for chronic studies heart document fail-that these cells modify local inflammatory conditions, release factors that stimulate angiogenesis and intrinsic tissue repair, modify adverse ventricular remodeling, and restore function.1 Clinical trial results, however, are more variable with some showing beneficial effects and others without.2,3 Preclinical studies are conducted in otherwise healthy animals, but clinical studies enroll CHF patients with multiple comorbidities (aging, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, inflammation, etc) that negatively affect regenerative capacity.4 Significant variability in regenerative response is linked with variations in cell characteristics (eg, migratory and adhesion capacity, clonogenicity, surface marker expression, and paracrine factor release).5,6 Using a personalized medicine approach (ie, tailoring treatment to patient characteristics to optimize benefit), we propose to optimize cardiac cell therapy efficacy by prospectively selecting patients most likely to benefit using a cell potency assay to assess inherent regenerative capacity.