Urine-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Recent studies have demonstrated that stem cells are equipped with the potential to differentiate into various types of cells, including cardiomyocytes. Meanwhile, stem cells are highly promising in curing cardiovascular diseases. However, owing to the ethical challenges posed in stem cell acquisition and the complexity and invasive nature of the method, large-scale expansions and clinical applications in the laboratory have been limited. The current generation of cardiomyocytes is available from diverse sources; urine is one of the promising sources among them. Although advanced research was established in the generation of human urine cells as cardiomyocytes, the reprogramming of urine cells to cardiomyocytes remains unclear. In this context, it is necessary to develop a minimally invasive method to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This review focuses on the latest advances in research on urine-derived iPSCs and their application mechanisms in cardiovascular diseases.

Adopting Mechanistic Molecular Biology Approaches in Exposome Research for Causal Understanding

“…One such avenue of untangling GxE from cohort studies is through identifying the interaction between PGS, widely used to define genotype–phenotype relationships, and the exposome. , In a toxicology context, human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent a new approach methodology (NAM) to reduce animal testing in human toxicology screens (in this case, secondary laboratory testing using iPSCs and the models derived from them (e.g., organoids)). With emerging opportunities to derive primary cells from a range of biosamples (e.g., peripheral blood mononuclear cells relevant to the immune responses, hair keratinocytes, and urine that can subsequently be reprogrammed to differentiate into multiple cell types (e.g., urine-derived iPSCs can be reprogrammed to urinary epithelial cells, endothelial cells, nerve cells, skeletal myogenic cells, osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondrocytes)), this provides a promising opportunity to test GxE.…”