Conversion of human fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes by small molecules

Abstract

Making cardiac cells from fibroblasts Reprogramming noncardiac cells into functional cardiomyocytes without any genetic manipulation could open up new avenues for cardiac regenerative therapies. Cao et al. identified a combination of nine small molecules that could epigenetically activate human fibroblasts, efficiently reprogramming them into chemically induced cardiomyocytes (ciCMs). The ciCMs contracted uniformly and resembled human cardiomyocytes. This method may be adapted for reprogramming multiple cell types and have important implications in regenerative medicine. Science , this issue p. 1216