Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and their differentiated derivatives
became a new, promising source for in vitro screening techniques. Cell lines derived
from healthy individuals can be applied for drug safety testing, while patient-derived
cells provide a platform to model diseases in vitro and can be used as a tool for
personalized medicine including specific drug efficacy testing and identification
of new pharmacological targets as well as for tailoring pharmacological therapies.
Efficient differentiation protocols yielding cardiomyocytes or endothelial cells derived
from iPSCs have been developed recently. Phenotypic characterization and gene expression
profiling of these derivatives can reveal clues for developmental and pathological
questions. Moreover, functional analysis and cell-based assays using automated fluorescence
imaging platform and high content analysis characterize cell type-specific profiles
of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) and endothelial cells (hiPSC-EC) at the
cellular and subcellular levels. This can be utilized in a platform which can provide
multiple endpoint profiles of candidate compounds.
