Cells Cor.At@ or Cor.4U@ stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes
Species Mouse or Human
Delivery A study protocol will be sent to initiate the study. Results are sent as draft and final study report.
Timelines
Experiment time: 2 weeks per compound.
Draft report: within 4 weeks
Service content Investigation of pharmacological effects reverting the hypertrophic phenotype
Reporter TagGFP2 or CL or BNP expression analysis
  Quotation

Cardiomyopathy

Chronic heart failure is a debilitating condition of the cardio-vascular system in which the heart no longer fulfills its pumping function adequately. Despite enormous efforts in health care, the mortality associated with this disease remains extraordinarily high, indicating that current therapies are far from effective. A major constraint in the development of effective drug treatment for chronic heart failure has been the lack of suitable cell-based assays with physiological relevance.

At the cellular level, hypertrophic cardiomyocytes are characterized by increased cell size, enhanced protein synthesis, enhanced organization of the contractile apparatus, and an altered gene expression pattern (1, 2).

My.Cor@ – Induced cardiac hypertrophy

Cor.At® murine cardiomyocytes faithfully recapitulate the characteristics of diseased cardiomyocytes in vitro when stimulated with specific agonists. Upon stimulation with endothelin-I, Cor.At® cardiomyocytes increase in cell size (Fig.1) and up-regulate the expression of the hypertrophic marker genes.

Initial proof-of-concept studies have also shown that use of Cor.4U@ human iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes work extremely well within the My.Cor system. This comes as pharmaceutical companies continue to seek more translational in vitro models of human disease.

The My.Cor@ system is a sound profiling platform that integrates the discovery of new active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for cardiac hypertrophy therapy, and will be used for internal drug discovery efforts and as a drug discovery service for the pharmaceutical industry.

My.Cor@ is a patented (EU, US and Japan), customizable in vitro assay that provides a model for cardiomyopathy in stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. My.Cor makes the drug discovery process more convenient and efficient, thereby helping to facilitate the development of better drugs for chronic heart failure.

References

[1] Molkentin JD, Dorn II GW2nd (2001). Cytoplasmic signaling pathways that regulate cardiac hypertrophy. Annu Rev Physiol. 63, 391-426.
[2] Cameron VA, and EllmersLJ (2003). Minireview: Natriuretic peptides during development of the fetal heart and circulation. Endocrinology. 144, 2191-2194.

Advantages My.Cor® cardiomyopathy screen

  • Convenient to handle and culture.
  • Easy induction of cardiomyopathy phenotypic characteristics.
  • Early identification of compounds that show promise for drug development.
  • Validation of targets in their physiological cellular environment without transgenic animals.
  • Available in bulk quantities for integration into platforms at your facilities.
  • Full in vitro system eliminates animal testing.
  • Time and cost effectiveness for a more efficient and economical use of human and financial resources.
  • Customizable cardiomyocytes with knock-out, knock-in, knock-down features or over-expression of target genes, tailor-made to client’s wishes.