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Updated: Dec 10, 2025
Construction of Defined Human Engineered Cardiac Tissues to Study Mechanisms of Cardiac Cell Therapy
Published on: March 1, 2016
Cells, Materials, and Fabrication Processes for Cardiac Tissue Engineering
Pilar Montero1, María Flandes-Iparraguirre1, Saioa Musquiz1,2
1Regenerative Medicine Program, Cima Universidad de Navarra, Foundation for Applied Medical Research, Pamplona, Spain.
Insights
Regenerative therapies aim to repair hearts damaged by myocardial infarction (MI), a leading cause of death. This review explores engineered cardiac tissues using stem cells and advanced manufacturing for heart repair and clinical translation.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Regenerative Medicine
- Cardiovascular Research
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease, particularly myocardial infarction (MI), is a leading global cause of mortality.
- MI leads to progressive heart damage due to limited regenerative capacity and pathological remodeling.
- Current pharmacological treatments are insufficient to halt MI progression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the generation of human cardiac tissues for therapeutic applications.
- To highlight advances in regenerative medicine for treating myocardial infarction.
- To discuss cellular processes, materials, and fabrication strategies in cardiac tissue engineering.
Main Methods:
- Focus on human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives for cardiac tissue generation.
- Review of tissue engineering principles for mimicking cardiac 3D structure and function.
- Examination of recent advances in cell reprogramming and additive manufacturing.
Main Results:
- Progress from early cell therapy to current engineered cardiovascular tissues.
- Overview of ongoing research in cellular processes, biomaterials, and fabrication methods.
- Summary of current clinical applications and future research needs.
Conclusions:
- Engineered cardiac tissues hold promise for treating MI.
- Human pluripotent stem cells are key to developing therapeutic cardiac tissues.
- Further research is needed to bridge the gap between laboratory findings and clinical application.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer worldwide, with myocardial infarction (MI) responsible for approximately 1 in 6 deaths. The lack of endogenous regenerative capacity, added to the deleterious remodelling programme set into motion by myocardial necrosis, turns MI into a progressively debilitating disease, which current pharmacological therapy cannot halt. The advent of Regenerative Therapies over 2 decades ago kick-started a whole new scientific field whose aim was to prevent or even reverse the pathological processes of MI. As a highly dynamic organ, the heart displays a tight association between 3D structure and function, with the non-cellular components, mainly the cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM), playing both fundamental active and passive roles. Tissue engineering aims to reproduce this tissue architecture and function in order to fabricate replicas able to mimic or even substitute damaged organs. Recent advances in cell reprogramming and refinement of methods for additive manufacturing have played a critical role in the development of clinically relevant engineered cardiovascular tissues. This review focuses on the generation of human cardiac tissues for therapy, paying special attention to human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives. We provide a perspective on progress in regenerative medicine from the early stages of cell therapy to the present day, as well as an overview of cellular processes, materials and fabrication strategies currently under investigation. Finally, we summarise current clinical applications and reflect on the most urgent needs and gaps to be filled for efficient translation to the clinical arena.
