Method for producing sinoatrial node cells (pacemaker cells) from stem cells, and use of the produced sinoatrial node cells

US11661582B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Universitaet Rostock · DE

Inventors

• Robert David · Riverview, US
• Julia Jung · Rostock, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 10, 2014
• Grant date: May 30, 2023
• Expiry date: Mar 21, 2035

Classification

• Technology area (CPC C): Chemistry; Metallurgy
• CPC primary: C12N2510/00
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The electrical pacemakers currently being used for the therapeutic approaches for treatment of “sick sinus syndrome” are not hormonally regulatable and entail risks through infections or premature battery discharge. These problems could be overcome by means of “biological cardiac pacemakers” obtained from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). It has been shown that the controlled differentiation of stem cells with TBX, inductors of sinoatrial node cells, and an additional Myh6 promoter-specific antibiotic selection can give cardiomyocyte aggregates consisting to an extent of more than 80% of physiologically functional pacemaker cells. These induced sinoatrial bodies (“iSABs”) for the first time exhibited very high beat frequencies (300-400 bpm), similar to those in a murine heart, and were able to stably rhythmically stimulate heart muscle cells ex vivo. In the iSAB transcriptome decoded by means of RNA-seq, it was possible to assign almost all the genes to the ontologies of heart function/heart development and the structures of contractile cells. Overall, this is the first example of a high-purity functional sinoatrial tissue derived from stem cells, which means that a crucial step for f…