Finasteride as a Potential Tool to Improve Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation for Myocardial Infarction
April 2012
in “
Medical Hypotheses
”
TLDR Finasteride may improve stem cell therapy for heart attacks by increasing cell survival.
The article suggests that Finasteride, a type II 5α-reductase inhibitor, could improve the viability of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) used in cell therapy for myocardial infarction. Finasteride could enhance post-transplanted MSC viability by activating the PI3K/Akt pathway and increasing the facilitation of differentiation of MSCs to cardiomyocyte by reducing DHT levels. The article proposes that pretreating MSCs with Finasteride before administering for myocardial infarction could be a possible means of elevating cell survival.
