Title:Building A New Treatment For Heart Failure-Transplantation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Cells into the Heart
VOLUME: 16 ISSUE: 1
Author(s):Shigeru Miyagawa, Satsuki Fukushima, Yukiko Imanishi, Takuji Kawamura, Noriko Mochizuki- Oda, Shigeo Masuda and Yoshiki Sawa
Affiliation:Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
Keywords:iPSC, Cardiomyocytes, Transplantation, Heart failure, Cardiomyoplasty, Immunogenicity.
Abstract:Advanced cardiac failure is a progressive intractable disease and is the main cause of mortality
and morbidity worldwide. Since this pathology is represented by a definite decrease in cardiomyocyte
number, supplementation of functional cardiomyocytes into the heart would hypothetically be
an ideal therapeutic option. Recently, unlimited in vitro production of human functional cardiomyocytes
was established by using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, which avoids the use
of human embryos. A number of basic studies including ours have shown that transplantation of iPSCderived
cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) into the damaged heart leads to recovery of cardiac function,
thereby establishing “proof-of-concept” of this iPSC-transplantation therapy. However, considering clinical application of
this therapy, its feasibility, safety, and therapeutic efficacy need to be further investigated in the pre-clinical stage. This
review summarizes up-to-date important topics related to safety and efficacy of iPSC-CMs transplantation therapy for
cardiac disease and discusses the prospects for this treatment in clinical studies.
