New chemicals drive mesenchymal stem cells toward cardiac cells

Healthy and active stem cells are able to differentiate into mature cells of the cardiac tissue, such as cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts and endothelial cells. Adult stem cells seem to be less responsive to stimuli of differentiation in cardiomiocytes, as compared to embrional stem cells. However, the extent of survival, proliferation, and cardiac differentiation of adult stem cells can be enhanced by physical and chemical agents. The chemical conditioning of cell plasticity can be performed on endogenous stem cells, directly into the beating heart, or in vitro, acting on stem cells prior to cardiac delivery. A major goal for Inventors has been the discovery of chemical compounds targeted for cardiac cell therapy, such as small-molecules that can modify the expression of hallmarks genes leading to stem cell commitment to a cardiac fate. Our review will highlight the most recent patents declaring the design of innovative chemical inducers of stem cell-derived cardiac cells.