Therapeutic potential of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) results in progressive and incurable cardiomyopathy, leading to significant morbidity and mortality due to heart failure. There is currently no effective cure for DMD that can correct the genetic defects and compensate for the lack of dystrophin. Therefore, the therapeutic strategies that focus on the transplantation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived cardiomyocytes are promising options, and remain to be investigated to which extent they can restrain the cardiomyocyte loss phenotype and improve cardiac function. There has been significant progress in the differentiation of cardiomyocytes (CMs) from hiPSCs (human iPSCs). Three hiPSC lines: AICS-0011, 029 iPS clone 4-PCBC, and PCBC16iPS were investigated based on previously published culture and differentiation methods. We will inject differentiated CMs into the heart of Mdx mice that are mutated or deficient for NOD-scid, IL2Rg to allow for xenotransplantation engraftment. Having confirmed the effcient differentiation of CMs from all three hiPSC lines, the next step will be to transplant CMs. The engraftment rate after transplantation will be quantified by IHC staining for human lamin A/C and the relative level of genomic human DNA from isolated hearts. Correction of dystrophin expression will be measured via IHC for dystrophin. Echocardiography will be performed to measure improvement in cardiac systolic or diastolic function. If therapeutic transplantation of hiPSC-CMs is possible, it could improve the survival of DMD patients. This project was supported by RMM091621DS008, NIH155993, and NIH160665. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.