Cells Cor.4U®  / vCor.4U®  cardiomyocytes or co-cultures of cardiomyocytes with FibroCor.4U cardiac fibroblasts
Cell source Human iPS cells of 26y/o Caucasian female
Service type       Functional / phenotypic analysis
Delivery  A study protocol will be sent to initiate the study. Results are sent as draft and final study report
Timeline Experimental run time: ~1.5 weeks per plate. Draft report: within 5 weeks.
Quotation

ADVANTAGES

  • Cost-effective, robust and fast assay to assess toxicity/efficacy early in drug development
  • Combines Cor.4U® , a well-characterized predictive cardiac model, with HTS capabilities
  • Highly validated assay; part of the CiPA (Comprehensive in Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay) initiative

Technology overview

CardioFlux utilizes intracellular calcium transients and beat rate analysis of Cor.4U®  human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived cardiomyocytes to assess cardiac liability and efficacy of drug compounds.

Transient rise of cytosolic free calcium ion concentrations ([Ca2+ ]i ) plays a pivotal role in cardiomyocyte contraction. During the cardiac action potential, the rise and duration of these calcium transients [Ca2+ ]i  are carefully controlled by a mechanism called the calcium-induced calcium release.

 

Direct acute drug effects, including interference with ion channels, pumps, exchangers and hormone receptors, or kinase-mediated signaling involved in regulation of the human cardiomyocyte action potential and heart rate control can be detected by monitoring [Ca2+ ]i  transients, which makes it a valuable tool in drug discovery and safety pharmacology assessment.

In the ongoing CiPA validation study, calcium transient measurements are one of three methods to assess pro-arrhythmic effects on a subset of blinded compounds in Cor.4U®  cardiomyocytes.
The CardioFlux assay has been validated with >75 compounds from a wide variety of compound classes.