Developing effective drug therapies for arrhythmic diseases is hampered by the fact that the same drug can work well in some individuals but not in others. Human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have been vetted as useful tools for drug screening. However, cardioactive drugs have not been shown to have the same effects on iPS cell-derived human cardiomyocytes as on embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived cardiomyocytes or human cardiomyocytes in a clinical setting. Here we show that current cardioactive drugs affect the beating frequency and contractility of iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes in much the same way as they do ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes, and the results were compatible with empirical results in the clinic. Thus, human iPS cells could become an attractive tool to investigate the effects of cardioactive drugs at the individual level and to screen for individually tailored drugs against cardiac arrhythmic diseases.

Mouse iPS cells differentiate into cardiomyocytes in a cell line-dependent manner. TSA induces myocardial differentiation in mouse iPS cells and might be useful to overcome cell line variation in the differentiation efficiency.

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Toriello-Carey syndrome is rare condition characterized by agenesis of the corpus callosum, the Pierre Robin sequence, and facial anomalies such as telecanthus, short palpebral fissures, and a small nose with anteverted nares [Toriello and Carey, 1988]. In addition, tracheal and laryngeal anomalies are common complications in patients with Toriello-Carey syndrome, and these anomalies can lead to death [Kataoka et al., 2003]. Congenital tracheal stenosis is a life-threatening condition with high mortality. Even if surgery is successful, several serious complications can result in a high risk of mortality. We describe a case of a Japanese boy with Toriello-Carey syndrome who had severe congenital tracheal stenosis, in whom surgical tracheal plasty was avoided because of adequate respiratory care, allowing the patient to be alive at 18 months of age.

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