Fig. 2

Challenges in use of MSCs for cardiac regeneration. Tumour formation in MSCs has been considered inconceivable, but there have been instances of osteosarcoma in patients infused with BM-MSCs for some other disease. Hence, in the context of MSCs in cardiac regeneration, some pathways and processes might exist that still remain unexplored. Additionally, these pathways comprise MSCs obtained from different sources, out of which only a few such as BM-MSCs have been used extensively for clinical applications, in spite of evidences of more proliferative capacity in MSCs obtained from umbilical cord, peripheral blood, etc. This limitation arises due to the lack of an efficient delivery method of MSCs to the target site. Another challenge that has seemed to come in the way of researchers is the prolonged survival of MSCs post engraftment into the host myocardium. This challenge has been overcome to a large extent by using miRNAs and CCs, but more sustainable methods need to be studied further. Studies have gained several advancements in the field of safety and efficacy of the MSC therapy, but success rates in terms of the functional regeneration of cardiac tissue for the loss of functioning cardiomyocytes after any damage remain mediocre. MSC mesenchymal stem cell