Increasing short-term cardiomyocyte progenitor cell (CMPC) survival by necrostatin-1 did not further preserve cardiac function.

AIMS One of the main limitations for an effective cell therapy for the heart is the poor cell engraftment after implantation, which is partly due to a large percentage of cell death in the hostile myocardium. In the present study, we investigated the utilization of necrostatin-1 (Nec-1) as a possible attenuator of cell death in cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CMPCs). METHODS AND RESULTS In a mouse model of myocardial infarction, survival of CMPCs 3 days after intra-myocardial injection was 39 ± 9% higher in cells pretreated with the Nec-1 compound. However, the increase in cell number was not sustained over 28 days, and did not translate into improved cardiac function (ejection fraction %, 20.6 ± 2.1 vs. 21.4 ± 2.5 for vehicle and Nec-1-treated CMPC, respectively). Nonetheless, Nec-1 rescued CMPCs remained functionally competent. CONCLUSION A pharmacological pretreatment approach to solely enhance cell survival on the short term does not seem to be effective strategy to improve cardiac cell therapy with CMPCs.