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| Item Type: | Preprint |
|---|---|
| Title: | Isogenic monocytes improve the responsiveness of hiPSC cardiac spheroids to cardiac stressors |
| Creators Name: | Strässler, Elisabeth T., Kessler, Elise L., van Vliet, Emile F., Chirico, Nino, Na, Ellen, Cai, Qingqing, van Mil, Alain, Schiattarella, Gabriele G., Gerhardt, Holger, Kränkel, Nicolle, de Jager, Saskia C.A., Sluijter, Joost P.G. and Landmesser, Ulf |
| Abstract: | AIMS: Heart failure remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Suitable in vitro models to accurately replicate the pathological environment in heart failure with reduced and preserved ejection fraction (HFrEF/HFpEF) are limited, hampering mechanistic studies and drug screening. In particular, these models rarely incorporate immune cells, which play a critical role in heart failure. To address these limitations, we developed an isogenic 3D induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiac spheroid model incorporating monocytes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cardiac spheroids were assembled from three healthy female iPSC lines: three-cell-type (3CT) spheroids consisting of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, cardiac fibroblasts, and endothelial cells, and four-cell-type (4CT) spheroids additionally containing monocytes. After six days of culture, established spheroids were treated for 24 h with different known heart failure-associated triggers (glucose & tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFɑ) or ischaemia with/without reoxygenation). Differences between treated and control 3CT and 4CT spheroids were investigated at the cellular, molecular, and functional levels using confocal microscopy, RNA expression (qPCR and RNA sequencing), protein secretion using proximity extension assay technology (Olink), and functional analyses of beating rate, contraction, and relaxation. The results confirmed successful monocyte integration in 4CT spheroids, and only spheroids with monocytes (4CTs) exhibited changes in beating rate and relaxation duration upon stimulation, highlighting the necessity of incorporating immune cells to successfully mimic heart failureassociated functional changes. Along with a more pronounced global transcriptomic treatment response and inflammatory changes, additional transcriptomic alterations previously linked to heart failure in patients, as well as changes in metabolism, ion channels, and extracellular matrix pathways, were observed in 4CT compared with 3CT spheroids. CONCLUSION: We showed that immune cell incorporation enhances the functional and transcriptional responses of engineered cardiac tissue to relevant heart failure triggers in vitro and is essential for future studies to elucidate the cellular crosstalk and pathomechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, In Vitro Model, Spheroids, Inflammation, Heart Failure |
| Source: | bioRxiv |
| Publisher: | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press |
| Article Number: | 2025.10.16.682827 |
| Date: | 16 October 2025 |
| Official Publication: | https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.16.682827 |
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