Induced pluripotent stem cells for cardiac repair

Myocardial stem cell therapies are emerging as novel therapeutic paradigms for myocardial repair, but are hampered by the lack of sources for autologous human cardiomyocytes. An exciting development in the field of cardiovascular regenerative medicine is the ability to reprogram adult somatic cells into pluripotent stem cell lines (induced pluripotent stem cells, iPSCs) and to coax their differentiation into functional cardiomyocytes. This technology holds great promise for the emerging disciplines of personalized and regenerative medicine, because of the ability to derive patient-specific iPSCs that could potentially elude the immune system. The current review describes the latest techniques of generating iPSCs as well as the methods used to direct their differentiation towards the cardiac lineage. We then detail the unique potential as well as the possible hurdles on the road to clinical utilizing of the iPSCs derived cardiomyocytes in the emerging field of cardiovascular regenerative medicine.