Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Cells: Application in Disease Modeling, Cell Therapy, and Drug Discovery

Cardiac diseases are the leading cause of deaths worldwide; however, to date, there has been limited progress in the development of therapeutic options for these conditions. Animal models have been the most extensively studied methods to recapitulate a wide variety of cardiac diseases, but these models exhibit species-specific differences in physiology, metabolism and genetics, which lead to inaccurate and unpredictable drug safety and efficacy results, resulting in drug attrition. The development of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) technology in theory guarantees an unlimited source of human cardiac cells. These hPSC-derived cells are not only well suited for traditional two-dimensional (2-D) monoculture, but also applicable to more complex systems, such as three-dimensional (3-D) organoids, tissue engineering and heart on-a-chip. In this review, we discuss the application of hPSCs in heart disease modeling, cell therapy, and next-generation drug discovery. While the hPSC-related technologies still require optimization, their advances hold promise for revolutionizing cell-based therapies and drug discovery.

Automated summary

Cardiac diseases are the leading cause of global mortality, but limited progress has been made in developing therapeutic options. The use of animal models has limitations due to species-specific differences, leading to inaccurate drug testing results. Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) technology offers promising alternatives for heart disease modeling, cell therapy, and drug discovery, with potential for revolutionizing these fields with further optimization required.