How are induced pluripotent stem cells used in the study and treatment of cardiovascular diseases?
The major goal within the field of cardiovascular regenerative medicine is to replace lost or damaged cardiac muscle and coronaries following ischaemic disease. At present, de novo cardiomyocytes can be generated either in vitro, using directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells, or in vivo via direct reprogramming of resident adult cardiac fibroblast or ectopic stimulation of resident cardiac stem or progenitor cells. The production of human cardiac progenitor cells and cardiomyocytes from human pluripotent stem cells provides an amenable source of cells for applications in drug discovery, disease modeling, regenerative medicine, and cardiotoxicity screening. In addition, the ability to derive human-induced pluripotent stem cells from somatic tissues, combined with current high-throughput screening and pharmacogenomics, may help realize the use of these cells to fulfill the potential of personalized medicine. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) provide a unique opportunity to study "disease in a dish" within a defined genetic and environmental background. Patient-derived iPSCs have been successfully used to model cardiomyopathies, rhythm disorders and vascular disorders. 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. The use of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes to study genetic cardiovascular disorders will enable a deeper and more applicable understanding of the molecular mechanisms of human disease, as well as improving our ability to achieve successful cell-based therapies.