title: The role of tissue engineering and biomaterials in cardiac regenerative medicine.
abstract: In recent years, the development of 3-dimensional engineered heart tissue (EHT) has made large strides forward because of advances in stem cell biology, materials science, prevascularization strategies, and nanotechnology. As a result, the role of tissue engineering in cardiac regenerative medicine has become multifaceted as new applications become feasible. Cardiac tissue engineering has long been established to have the potential to partially or fully restore cardiac function after cardiac injury. However, EHTs may also serve as surrogate human cardiac tissue for drug-related toxicity screening. Cardiotoxicity remains a major cause of drug withdrawal in the pharmaceutical industry. Unsafe drugs reach the market because preclinical evaluation is insufficient to weed out cardiotoxic drugs in all their forms. Bioengineering methods could provide functional and mature human myocardial tissues, ie, physiologically relevant platforms, for screening the cardiotoxic effects of pharmaceutical agents and facilitate the discovery of new therapeutic agents. Finally, advances in induced pluripotent stem cells have made patient-specific EHTs possible, which opens up the possibility of personalized medicine. Herein, we give an overview of the present state of the art in cardiac tissue engineering, the challenges to the field, and future perspectives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Yimu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicole T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Feric
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Nimalan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thavandiran
authors.affiliation: Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sara S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: m.radisic@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radisic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials