Cardiomyocyte differentiation of pluripotent stem cells and their use as cardiac disease models.
More than 10 years after their first isolation, human embryonic stem cells are finally 'coming of age' in research and biotechnology applications as protocols for their differentiation and undifferentiated expansion in culture become robust and scalable, and validated commercial reagents become available. Production of human cardiomyocytes is now feasible on a daily basis for many laboratories with tissue culture expertise. An additional recent surge of interest resulting from the first production of human iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) from somatic cells of patients now makes these technologies of even greater importance since it is likely that (genetic) cardiac disease phenotypes can be captured in the cardiac derivatives of these cells. Although cell therapy based on replacing cardiomyocytes lost or dysfunctional owing to cardiac disease are probably as far away as ever, biotechnology and pharmaceutical applications in safety pharmacology and drug discovery will probably impact this clinical area in the very near future. In the present paper, we review the cutting edge of this exciting area of translational research.
Department of Anatomy & Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Cheryl
C
Dambrot
Robert
R
Passier
Douwe
D
Atsma
Christine L
CL
Mummery
D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*