Toward the development of bioengineered human three-dimensional vascularized cardiac tissue using cell sheet technology

Bioengineered cardiac tissue is expected to be applied to regenerative medicine and tissue models for disease research and drug screening. Recent and rapid progress in technologies for tissue engineering approaches, including cell sheet technology, vascularization of thickened tissues, and large-scale expansion and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, is about to realize the fabrication of human three-dimensional cardiac tissue. However, a remaining challenge is to make these fabricated tissues closely resemble the phenotypes, and to perform the functions of human cardiac tissue.