scholarly journals Stem Cells in Cardiovascular Medicine: Historical Overview and Future Prospects

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Samak ◽  
Rabea Hinkel

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the developed world, accounting for more than 30% of all deaths. In a large proportion of these patients, acute myocardial infarction is usually the first manifestation, which might further progress to heart failure. In addition, the human heart displays a low regenerative capacity, leading to a loss of cardiomyocytes and persistent tissue scaring, which entails a morbid pathologic sequela. Novel therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. Stem cells, such as induced pluripotent stem cells or embryonic stem cells, exhibit great potential for cell-replacement therapy and an excellent tool for disease modeling, as well as pharmaceutical screening of novel drugs and their cardiac side effects. This review article covers not only the origin of stem cells but tries to summarize their translational potential, as well as potential risks and clinical translation.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (22) ◽  
pp. 5752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Liang Tan ◽  
Andre Choo

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) comprise both embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The application of pluripotent stem cells is divided into four main areas, namely: (i) regenerative therapy, (ii) the study and understanding of developmental biology, (iii) drug screening and toxicology and (iv) disease modeling. In this review, we describe a new opportunity for PSCs, the discovery of new biomarkers and generating antibodies against these biomarkers. PSCs are good sources of immunogen for raising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) because of the conservation of oncofetal antigens between PSCs and cancer cells. Hence mAbs generated using PSCs can potentially be applied in two different fields. First, these mAbs can be used in regenerative cell therapy to characterize the PSCs. In addition, the mAbs can be used to separate or eliminate contaminating or residual undifferentiated PSCs from the differentiated cell product. This step is critical as undifferentiated PSCs can form teratomas in vivo. The mAbs generated against PSCs can also be used in the field of oncology. Here, novel targets can be identified and the mAbs developed as targeted therapy to kill the cancer cells. Conversely, as new and novel oncofetal biomarkers are discovered on PSCs, cancer mAbs that are already approved by the FDA can be repurposed for regenerative medicine, thus expediting the route to the clinics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (20) ◽  
pp. 3482-3489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliana E. Salazar-Noratto ◽  
Frank P. Barry ◽  
Robert E. Guldberg

Disease-specific pluripotent stem cells can be derived through genetic manipulation of embryonic stem cells or by reprogramming somatic cells (induced pluripotent stem cells).


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Debora Salerno ◽  
Alessandro Rosa

Human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), including embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, represent powerful tools for disease modeling and for therapeutic applications. PSCs are particularly useful for the study of development and diseases of the nervous system. However, generating in vitro models that recapitulate the architecture and the full variety of subtypes of cells that make the complexity of our brain remains a challenge. In order to fully exploit the potential of PSCs, advanced methods that facilitate the identification of molecular signatures in neural differentiation and neurological diseases are highly demanded. Here, we review the literature on the development and application of digital color-coded molecular barcoding as a potential tool for standardizing PSC research and applications in neuroscience. We will also describe relevant examples of the use of this technique for the characterization of the heterogeneous composition of the brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Nishimura ◽  
Aya Fukuda ◽  
Koji Hisatake

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), hold a huge promise for regenerative medicine, drug development, and disease modeling. PSCs have unique metabolic features that are akin to those of cancer cells, in which glycolysis predominates to produce energy as well as building blocks for cellular components. Recent studies indicate that the unique metabolism in PSCs is not a mere consequence of their preference for a low oxygen environment, but is an active process for maintaining self-renewal and pluripotency, possibly in preparation for rapid response to the metabolic demands of differentiation. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of this unique metabolism in PSCs is essential for proper derivation, generation, and maintenance of PSCs. In this review, we discuss the metabolic features of PSCs and describe the current understanding of the mechanisms of the metabolic shift during reprogramming from somatic cells to iPSCs, in which the metabolism switches from oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) to glycolysis.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1614
Author(s):  
Paulina Podkalicka ◽  
Jacek Stępniewski ◽  
Olga Mucha ◽  
Neli Kachamakova-Trojanowska ◽  
Józef Dulak ◽  
...  

Inadequate supply of oxygen (O2) is a hallmark of many diseases, in particular those related to the cardiovascular system. On the other hand, tissue hypoxia is an important factor regulating (normal) embryogenesis and differentiation of stem cells at the early stages of embryonic development. In culture, hypoxic conditions may facilitate the derivation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which may serve as a valuable tool for disease modeling. Endothelial cells (ECs), multifunctional components of vascular structures, may be obtained from iPSCs and subsequently used in various (hypoxia-related) disease models to investigate vascular dysfunctions. Although iPSC-ECs demonstrated functionality in vitro and in vivo, ongoing studies are conducted to increase the efficiency of differentiation and to establish the most productive protocols for the application of patient-derived cells in clinics. In this review, we highlight recent discoveries on the role of hypoxia in the derivation of ESCs and the generation of iPSCs. We also summarize the existing protocols of hypoxia-driven differentiation of iPSCs toward ECs and discuss their possible applications in disease modeling and treatment of hypoxia-related disorders.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 835
Author(s):  
Carmen Caiazza ◽  
Silvia Parisi ◽  
Massimiliano Caiazzo

Liver organoids are stem cell-derived 3D structures that are generated by liver differentiation signals in the presence of a supporting extracellular matrix. Liver organoids overcome low complexity grade of bidimensional culture and high costs of in vivo models thus representing a turning point for studying liver disease modeling. Liver organoids can be established from different sources as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), embryonic stem cells (ESCs), hepatoblasts and tissue-derived cells. This novel in vitro system represents an innovative tool to deeper understand the physiology and pathological mechanisms affecting the liver. In this review, we discuss the current advances in the field focusing on their application in modeling diseases, regenerative medicine and drug discovery.


Genetika ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 813-823
Author(s):  
Sanja Rascanin ◽  
Mirjana Jovanovic ◽  
Dejan Stevanovic ◽  
Nemanja Rancic

The discovery of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) opened the possibilities for reprogramming adult somatic cells back to a pluripotent state in vitro by inducing a forced expression of specific transcription factors. Thus, iPSCs might have potential application in regenerative medicine, transplantation, avoidance of tissue rejection, disease modeling, and drug testing. Because of apparent ethical issues connected with donation and derivation of biomaterials, iPSCs are considered as a research alternative to ethically highly disputed Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs). Objective: The aim of this paper was to describe the development of a questionnaire for evaluating information, knowledge, and attitudes on donation, storage, and application of iPSCs (i.e., the QIPSC). We performed a prospective qualitative study based on the development, validation and reliability testing of the QIPSC. The study included 122 respondents and the final version of the QIPSC with 34 items. The reliability analysis for part of information and knowledge of respondents according to iPSCs was then performed with the questions included in this two-component model and obtained a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.783 and 0.870, respectively. It has been shown that the range of correct answers to questions in part of knowledge of respondents according to iPSCs was from 17.2-63.1%. The results of our study show that the QIPSC was a unique, reliable, and valid questionnaire for assessing the level of information, knowledge, and attitudes on donation, storage, and application of iPSCs.


Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 2193
Author(s):  
Xiaowen Bai

Stem cell science is among the fastest moving fields in biology, with many highly promising directions for translatability. To centralize and contextualize some of the latest developments, this Special Issue presents state-of-the-art research of adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and embryonic stem cells as well as cancer stem cells. The studies we include describe efficient differentiation protocols of generation of chondrocytes, adipocytes, and neurons, maturation of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and neurons, dynamic characterization of iPSC-derived 3D cerebral organoids, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, and non-viral minicircle vector-based gene modification of stem cells. Different applications of stem cells in disease modeling are described as well. This volume also highlights the most recent developments and applications of stem cells in basic science research and disease treatments.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul S. Deshmukh ◽  
Krisztián A Kovács ◽  
András Dinnyés

Development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using forced expression of specific sets of transcription factors has changed the field of stem cell research extensively. Two important limitations for research application of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), namely, ethical and immunological issues, can be circumvented using iPSCs. Since the development of first iPSCs, tremendous effort has been directed to the development of methods to increase the efficiency of the process and to reduce the extent of genomic modifications associated with the reprogramming procedure. The established lineage-specific differentiation protocols developed for ESCs are being applied to iPSCs, as they have great potential in regenerative medicine for cell therapy, disease modeling either for drug development or for fundamental science, and, last but not least, toxicity testing. This paper reviews efforts aimed at practical development of iPSC differentiation to neural/cardiac lineages and further the use of these iPSCs-derived cells for drug development and toxicity testing.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Immacolata Belviso ◽  
Veronica Romano ◽  
Daria Nurzynska ◽  
Clotilde Castaldo ◽  
Franca Di Meglio

Induced Pluripotent Stem cells (iPSC) are adult somatic cells genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like state. Due to their autologous origin from adult somatic cells, iPSCs are considered a tremendously valuable tool for regenerative medicine, disease modeling, drug discovery and testing. iPSCs were first obtained by introducing specific transcription factors through retroviral transfection. However, cell reprogramming obtained by integrating methods prevent clinical application of iPSC because of potential risk for infection, teratomas and genomic instability. Therefore, several integration-free alternate methods have been developed and tested thus far to overcome safety issues. The present chapter provides an overview and a critical analysis of advantages and disadvantages of non-integrating methods used to generate iPSCs.


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