Regeneration of infarcted heart muscle remained a dream of modern medicine despite of comprehensive research on stem cell and gene therapy. Both technologies have not gained broad clinical use due to limited clinical results and significant side-effects including tumor formation. Click here to read more.Read More

Most, if not all, cells of the cardiovascular system secrete small, lipid bilayer vesicles called exosomes. Despite technical challenges in their purification and analysis, exosomes from various sources have been shown to be powerfully cardioprotective. Indeed, it is possible that much of the so called “paracrine” benefit in cardiovascular function obtained by stem cell therapy...Read More

Tissue-engineered xenografts represent a promising treatment option in heart valve disease. However, inflammatory response leading to graft failure and incomplete in vitro repopulation with recipient cells remain challenging. Shock waves (SWs) were shown to modulate inflammation and to enhance re-epithelialization. We therefore aimed to investigate whether SWs could serve as a feasible adjunct to tissue...Read More

Mechanical stimulation of acute ischemic myocardium by shock wave therapy (SWT) is known to improve cardiac function by induction of angiogenesis. However, SWT in chronic heart failure is poorly understood. We aimed to study whether mechanical stimulation upon SWT improves heart function in chronic ischemic heart failure by induction of angiogenesis and postnatal vasculogenesis and to dissect underlying mechanisms....Read More

Postischemic cardiomyopathy remains one of the disorders in urgent need of effective noninvasive therapy. It is currently accepted that the isolation, expansion and application of resident cardiac stem cells may hold therapeutic promise for the future. Recently, it has been demonstrated that shock waves (SW) could enhance the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)...Read More

Previously we have shown that epicardial shock-wave therapy improves left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in a rat model of myocardial infarction. In the present experiments we aimed to address the safety and efficacy of epicardial shock-wave therapy in a preclinical large animal model and to further evaluate mechanisms of action of this novel therapy. Four...Read More

Ischemic heart disease remains the leading cause of mortality (12.7%) worldwide, causing more than 7 million deaths per year. Native angiogenesis after infarction most often is not sufficient for appropriate supply of hibernating cardiomyocytes, leading to pathologic left ventricle (LV) remodeling and ischemic cardiomyopathy, a clinical entity characterized by a poor prognosis and severe symptoms in...Read More

Shock wave treatment (SWT) was shown to induce regeneration of ischaemic myocardium via Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3). The antimicrobial peptide LL37 gets released by mechanical stress and is known to form complexes with nucleic acids thus activating Toll-like receptors. We suggested that SWT in the acute setting prevents from the development of heart failure via...Read More

As many current approaches for heart regeneration exert unfavourable side effects, the induction of endogenous repair mechanisms in ischaemic heart disease is of particular interest. Recently, exosomes carrying angiogenic miRNAs have been described to improve heart function. However, it remains challenging to stimulate specific release of reparative exosomes in ischaemic myocardium. In the present study,...Read More

Shockwave therapy (SWT) represents a promising regenerative treatment option for patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. Although no side‐effects have been described upon SWT, potential cellular damage at therapeutic energies has not been addressed so far. In this work, we aimed to define a therapeutic range for shock wave application for myocardial regeneration. We could demonstrate that...Read More