Isolation and characterization of cardiogenic, stem-like cardiac precursors from heart samples of patients with congenital heart disease

Regenerative therapies based on resident human cardiac progenitor cells (hCPCs) are a promising alternative to medical treatments for patients with myocardial infarction. However, hCPCs are rare in human heart and finding efficient source and proper surface marker for isolation of these cells would make them a good candidate for therapy. We have isolated 5.34 ∗ 106 ± 2.04 ∗ 105/g viable cells from 35 heart tissue samples of 23 patients with...