Cardiac commitment of embryonic stem cells for myocardial repair

Embryonic stem (ES) cells represent a source for cell-based regenerative therapies of heart failure. The pluripotency and the plasticity of ES cells allow them to be committed to a cardiac lineage following treatment with growth factors of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta superfamily. We describe a protocol designed to turn on expression of cardiac-specific genes in undifferentiated murine ES cells stimulated with BMP2 and/or TGF-beta. Cell commitment results in a significant improvement in spontaneous cardiac differentiation of ES cells both in vitro and in vivo.