title: Induced pluripotent stem cells in cardiovascular research.
abstract: The discovery that somatic cells can be reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) by overexpression of a combination of transcription factors bears the potential to spawn a wealth of new applications in both preclinical and clinical cardiovascular research. Disease modeling, which is accomplished by deriving iPSC lines from patients affected by heritable diseases and then studying the pathophysiology of the diseases in somatic cells differentiated from these patient-specific iPSC lines, is the so far most advanced of these applications. Long-QT syndrome and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia are two heart rhythm disorders that have been already successfully modeled by several groups using this approach, which will likely serve to model other mono- or polygenetic cardiovascular disorders in the future. Test systems based on cells derived from iPSC might prove beneficial to screen for novel cardiovascular drugs or unwanted drug side effects and to individualize medical therapy. The application of iPSC for cell therapy of cardiovascular disorders, albeit promising, will only become feasible if the problem of biological safety of these cells will be mastered.
authors.affiliation: Klinikum rechts der Isar - Technische Universität München, I. Medizinische Klinik - Kardiologie, Ismaninger Strasse 22, 81675, Munich, Germany. sinnecker@tum.de
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sinnecker
authors.forename: Ralf J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Dirschinger
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goedel
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moretti
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lipp
authors.forename: Karl-Ludwig
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Laugwitz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D008133:Long QT Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy