Continued expression of active SDF-1α (peak at 7 days) has been achieved by expression from adenovirus injected in the myocardium after infarction, which resulted in smaller infarct size, improved left ventricular parameters, less fibrosis and a greater density of cardiomyocytes and blood vessels in a rat model of STEMI (Tang et al., 2010). Here, CXCL12 is linked to infarction.