Cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells as predictors of cardiotoxicity

Cardiotoxicity arising from cell death or altered electrophysiology is a major cause of late stage drug failure, posing a significant burden on the pharmaceutical industry. Refinement and development of new early stage in vitro screens that can reliably detect cardiotoxicological events will be necessary to eliminate compounds that would otherwise fail at the preclinical and clinical stages. Because these developments will probably require a reproducible source of functional human cardiomyocytes, we consider the suitability of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived cardiomyocytes by reviewing their characteristics and maturation. We highlight expression of >40 cardiac-related genes and responsiveness to >30 agents, concluding that these cells warrant further investigation in assessing cardiotoxicity.