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Advances in the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into vascular cells

sarah Jonas

Blood vessels constitute a closed pipe system distributed throughout the body, transporting blood from the heart to other organs and delivering metabolic waste products back to the lungs and kidneys. Changes in blood vessels are related to many disorders like stroke, myocardial infarction, aneurysm, and diabetes, which are important causes of death worldwide. Translational research for new approaches to disease modeling and effective treatment is needed due to the huge socio-economic burden on healthcare systems. Although mice or rats have been widely used, applying data from animal studies to human-specific vascular physiology and pathology is difficult. The rise of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides a reliable in vitro resource for disease modeling, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery because they carry all human genetic information and have the ability to directionally differentiate into any type of human cells. This review summarizes the latest progress from the establishment of iPSCs, the strategies for differentiating iPSCs into vascular cells, and the in vivo transplantation of these vascular derivatives. It also introduces the application of these technologies in disease modeling, drug screening, and regenerative medicine. Additionally, the application of high-tech tools, such as omics analysis and high-throughput sequencing, in this field is reviewed.

 

Core Tip: Blood vessels play crucial physiological roles and are closely related to many human diseases. Although mouse or rats have been widely used in current biomedical studies, human specific-vascular bio- and patho-physiology are hardly to recapitulate because of the species differences between human and animals. The rise of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides a reliable method. Until now, iPSC technology and its differentiation into vascular cells or organoids provide valuable tools for studies of vascular diseases in the fields of disease modeling, drug development, regenerative medicine and gene manipulation.