About this Research Topic
Cardiovascular diseases are currently the leading cause of death in the industrialized world, partly due to the limited regenerative capacity of adult cardiomyocytes. While cardiomyocytes in the fetal period exhibit the ability to proliferate, this ability rapidly diminishes after birth. During heart failure, cardiomyocytes progressively decline, leading to the formation of nonfunctioning fibrotic scar tissues that notably impair the heart’s pumping efficiency. Although heart transplantation is an option for treating heart failure, the scarcity of available donors and the complications associated with immunosuppressant regimens pose significant challenges. Thus, there is an urgent necessity for alternative strategies to enhance both the survival rates and the quality of life experienced by patients.
To address this issue, researchers have shown increasing interest in cardiac regeneration through induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for cell-based therapy. One potential application involves using iPSCs-derived cardiomyocytes for cardiac cell sheet therapy, which promotes cardiac function recovery after muscle injury. iPSCs are a kind of pluripotent stem cells formed by the reprogramming of adult somatic cells through the transfer of pluripotent transcription factors such as Oct4, Sox2, and Klf4. The application of this reprogramming technology can produce stem cells with the same genotype as the transplanted recipient, avoiding the risk of rejection. Therefore, iPSCs hold great promise in broad application prospects of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
Another approach involves reprogramming cardiac fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes in vivo by overexpressing cardiomyocyte transcription factors such as GATA4, MEF2C, and TBX5. Resting ventricular cardiomyocytes can also be reprogrammed into pacemaker cardiomyocytes for arrhythmia treatment by the re-expressing transcription factors found in sinoatrial nodes, including SHOX2, TBX3, TBX5, and TBX18. This reprogramming method offers an alternative to cell-based regenerative therapies.
Besides iPSCs-based cell therapy, cell-free approaches like exosomes show great potential in treating cardiovascular diseases. The extracellular vesicles secreted from iPSCs or iPSCs-derived cardiomyocytes have the ability to deliver protective molecules to damaged cardiomyocytes, regulating apoptosis, inflammation, fibrosis, and angiogenesis, thus displaying cardiac protective effects.
As a result, we invite experts in the field to submit Original Research or Review articles focusing on the application of iPSCs in regenerative medicine, reprogramming technology, and extracellular vesicle-based therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases. We welcome discussions on recent advances, detailed experimental protocols, challenges, and application prospects in this area.
To address this issue, researchers have shown increasing interest in cardiac regeneration through induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for cell-based therapy. One potential application involves using iPSCs-derived cardiomyocytes for cardiac cell sheet therapy, which promotes cardiac function recovery after muscle injury. iPSCs are a kind of pluripotent stem cells formed by the reprogramming of adult somatic cells through the transfer of pluripotent transcription factors such as Oct4, Sox2, and Klf4. The application of this reprogramming technology can produce stem cells with the same genotype as the transplanted recipient, avoiding the risk of rejection. Therefore, iPSCs hold great promise in broad application prospects of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
Another approach involves reprogramming cardiac fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes in vivo by overexpressing cardiomyocyte transcription factors such as GATA4, MEF2C, and TBX5. Resting ventricular cardiomyocytes can also be reprogrammed into pacemaker cardiomyocytes for arrhythmia treatment by the re-expressing transcription factors found in sinoatrial nodes, including SHOX2, TBX3, TBX5, and TBX18. This reprogramming method offers an alternative to cell-based regenerative therapies.
Besides iPSCs-based cell therapy, cell-free approaches like exosomes show great potential in treating cardiovascular diseases. The extracellular vesicles secreted from iPSCs or iPSCs-derived cardiomyocytes have the ability to deliver protective molecules to damaged cardiomyocytes, regulating apoptosis, inflammation, fibrosis, and angiogenesis, thus displaying cardiac protective effects.
As a result, we invite experts in the field to submit Original Research or Review articles focusing on the application of iPSCs in regenerative medicine, reprogramming technology, and extracellular vesicle-based therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases. We welcome discussions on recent advances, detailed experimental protocols, challenges, and application prospects in this area.
Keywords: pluripotent stem cells, cardiac reprogramming, iPSCs-derived cardiac cells, cardiovascular diseases, regenerative medicine, cardiac tissue engineering, stem cell therapy, exosome therapy, biological cardiac pacing
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