Title:Direct Somatic Cell Reprogramming: Treatment of Cardiac Diseases
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
Author(s): Chuner Guo, Kishan Patel and Li Qian
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Cellular reprogramming, cardiac regeneration, iPS, iCM, myocardial infarction, fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, cardiac disease
Abstract: Cardiac diseases are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. Cardiomyocyte death is a common
consequence of many types of heart diseases and is usually irreversible. Scar tissues formed by cardiac fibroblasts
serve compensatory roles for the injured heart but eventually weaken cardiac function and result in life-threatening heart
failures. Unfortunately, adult human hearts have limited regenerative capacities. In the past decades, many interventional
approaches have been taken in an attempt to restore functional cardiomyocytes in an injured heart. Promising advances
have been made in directly reprogramming mouse fibroblasts into cardiomyocyte-like cells both in vitro and in vivo. Recently,
several different methods have been reported, including the use of transcription factors and microRNAs. In addition,
two in vivo studies showed heart function improvements with delivery of reprogramming factors in mouse infarcted
hearts. Although many of these studies are at early preliminary stages, the plausibility of applying cardiac reprogramming
on patients for regenerative purposes is exciting, and may lead to numerous novel research directions in the field. This review
will discuss the history, recent advances and challenges of cellular reprogramming, specifically in the field of cardiac
regeneration.