A Change of Heart: Human Cardiac Tissue Engineering as a Platform for Drug Development.

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) have been used to develop a variety of constructs including cardiac spheroids, microtissues, strips, rings, and chambers. Several ambitious studies have used these constructs to test a significant number of drugs, and while most have shown proper negative inotropic and arrhythmogenic responses, few have been able to demonstrate positive inotropy, indicative of relative hPSC-CM immaturity. Several engineered human cardiac tissue platforms have demonstrated native cardiac physiology and proper drug responses. Future studies addressing hPSC-CM immaturity and inclusion of patient-specific cell lines will further advance the utility of such models for in vitro drug development.