Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived vascular smooth muscle cells: differentiation and therapeutic potential

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide and current treatment strategies have limited effect of disease progression. It would be desirable to have better models to study developmental and pathological processes and model vascular diseases in laboratory settings. To this end, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have generated great enthusiasm, and have been a driving force for development of novel strategies in drug discovery and regenerative cell-therapy for the last decade. Hence, investigating the mechanisms underlying the differentiation of hiPSCs into specialized cell types such as cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) may lead to a better understanding of developmental cardiovascular processes and potentiate progress of safe autologous regenerative therapies in pathological conditions. In this review, we summarize the latest trends on differentiation protocols of hiPSC-derived VSMCs and their potential application in vascular research and regenerative therapy.