Pluripotent stem cell models of human heart disease

Understanding the molecular basis of many cardiac diseases has been hampered by the lack of appropriate in vitro cell culture models that accurately reflect the human disease phenotypes. In the past few years, remarkable advances in stem cell biology have made possible this long-standing ambition-the generation of human and even patient-specific cellular models of diseases. Combined with other novel technologies in the fields of human genetics, tissue engineering, and gene-targeted manipulation, disease modeling with pluripotent stem cells has the promise to influence modern cardiovascular medicine on several fronts: molecular understanding of pathological mechanisms, early diagnosis, drug development, and effective treatment.