Direct cardiac reprogramming: Toward the era of multi-omics analysis

Area of Science:

• Regenerative Medicine
• Cardiovascular Biology
• Cellular Reprogramming

Background:

• Adult cardiomyocytes have limited regenerative capacity, hindering heart repair post-injury.
• Direct cardiac reprogramming offers a strategy to convert cardiac fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes.
• Advances in genetic, epigenetic, and small molecule approaches have improved induced-cardiomyocyte (iCM) generation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent progress in induced-cardiomyocyte (iCM) reprogramming.
• To focus on multi-omics approaches for understanding cell fate conversion mechanisms.
• To highlight the future potential of multi-omics in clinical applications of iCMs.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent literature on direct cardiac reprogramming.
• Emphasis on transcriptomic, epigenomic, and proteomic (multi-omics) studies.
• Analysis of single-cell level research on reprogramming heterogeneity and trajectories.

Main Results:

• Significant advances in iCM reprogramming using various regulators and delivery strategies.
• Elucidation of novel mechanisms governing cell fate conversion through recent research.
• Understanding of cellular and molecular machinery involved in reprogramming.

Conclusions:

• Direct cardiac reprogramming is a promising strategy for cardiac repair.
• Multi-omics approaches provide deep insights into the mechanisms of iCM conversion.
• Further application of multi-omics holds potential for clinical translation of iCM therapies.