5 Steps to Model Cardiac Disease

Cardiovascular diseases, including coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, are the leading cause of deaths globally, affecting nearly 20 million people each year. Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of conditions in which the blood vessels are obstructed in a way that leads to acute events such as heart attack and stroke, or conditions in which cardiac morphology or function is affected. The further study of these diseases requires the ability to obtain human diseased tissue for study and a high throughput method to test a variety of drugs. Now, with the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), it is much more feasible to culture and control cardiovascular disease fibroblasts and differentiate them into contracting cardiomyocytes. Review the 5 Steps to Model Cardiac Disease guide below and see how our scientists created a Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM)-associated mutation of the cardiac muscles troponin T gene (TNNT2 R141Q) in hiPSCs.