Current Progress and Potential Application for Human Pluripotent Stem Cells-derived Cardiomyocytes

Abstract: Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) with the ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes in culture， open the possibility of generating a virtually unlimited supply of cardiomyocytes for clinical applications， drug discovery， and provide an in vitro model for heart development. The past decade sees significant progress in this field. The advert of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology enables personalized cell therapies and negates ethical concerns surrounding human embryonic stem cells. Despite the great progress， the clinical use of hPSC-cardiomyocytes as regenerative medicine is still in its infancy， and many technical hurdles remain to be addressed. This review summarizes technical advances toward the generation of clinically relevant human cardiomyocytes from hPSC， including the methods of differentiation， enrichment， and scale-up. We also provide an update on the potential of hPSC-cardiomyocytes to be used as a reagent for clinical application， pharmaceutical drug development， and basic cardiovascular research. Furthermore， we highlight the key barriers that need to overcome before hPSC-mediated human heart repair becomes a reality.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2013.03.0001