Ashish Mehta, Ying Ying Chung, Alvin Ng, Fahamy Iskandar, Shirhan Atan, Heming Wei, Greg Dusting, William Sun, Philip Wong, Winston Shim
AIMS: Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines by reprogramming of fibroblast cells with virus-free methods offers unique opportunities for translational cardiovascular medicine. The aim of the study was to reprogramme fibroblast cells to hiPSCs and to study cardiomyogenic properties and ion channel characteristics of the virus-free hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. METHODS AND RESULTS: The hiPSCs generated by episomal vectors generated teratomas in severe combined immunodeficient mice, readily formed embryoid bodies, and differentiated into cardiomyocytes with comparable efficiency to human embryonic stem cells...
September 1, 2011: Cardiovascular Research