The future of cardiac care: How stem cells are revolutionizing cardiovascular disease treatment

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a major global health issue, with current treatments often insufficient for addressing long-term cardiac damage. Stem cell therapy provides a promising alternative by potentially repairing damaged heart tissue and improving cardiac function. This review highlights recent advancements in stem cell applications for CVDs, focusing on heart tissue regeneration using various cell types, including mesenchymal stem cells and the newly discovered very small embryonic-like stem cells. Each cell type has unique characteristics that contribute to heart regeneration. Combining these cells with appropriate natural, synthetic, or decellularized scaffolds creates environments that better mimic the heart, resulting in improved outcomes. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/Cas9 gene editing technology advances these efforts by enabling precise genetic modifications. Despite these advancements, challenges such as cell culture variability, biomaterial selection, and clinical protocol standardization remain. Continued research and clinical trials are crucial to overcome these challenges and integrate stem cell therapies into standard cardiac care.