AuthorsV. Charwat, B. Charrez, B. A. Siemons, H. Finsberg, K. H. Jæger, A. G. Edwards, N. Huebsch, S. Wall, E. Miller, A. Tveito et al.
TitleValidating the Arrhythmogenic Potential of High-, Intermediate-, and Low-Risk Drugs in a Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Microphysiological System
AfilliationScientific Computing
Project(s)Department of Computational Physiology, IdentiPhy
StatusPublished
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
JournalACS Pharmacology & Translational Science
Volume5
Issue8
Pagination652–667
PublisherAmerican Chemical Society
Abstract

Evaluation of arrhythmogenic drugs is required by regulatory agencies before any new compound can obtain market approval. Despite rigorous review, cardiac disorders remain the second most common cause for safety-related market withdrawal. On the other hand, false-positive preclinical findings prohibit potentially beneficial candidates from moving forward in the development pipeline. Complex in vitro models using cardiomyocytes derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-CM) have been identified as a useful tool that allows for rapid and cost-efficient screening of proarrhythmic drug risk. Currently available hiPSC-CM models employ simple two-dimensional (2D) culture formats with limited structural and functional relevance to the human heart muscle. Here, we present the use of our 3D cardiac microphysiological system (MPS), composed of a hiPSC-derived heart micromuscle, as a platform for arrhythmia risk assessment. We employed two different hiPSC lines and tested seven drugs with known ion channel effects and known clinical risk: dofetilide and bepridil (high risk); amiodarone and terfenadine (intermediate risk); and nifedipine, mexiletine, and lidocaine (low risk). The cardiac MPS successfully predicted drug cardiotoxicity risks based on changes in action potential duration, beat waveform (i.e., shape), and occurrence of proarrhythmic events of healthy patient hiPSC lines in the absence of risk cofactors. We showcase examples where the cardiac MPS outperformed existing hiPSC-CM 2D models.

URLhttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsptsci.2c00088
DOI10.1021/acsptsci.2c00088
Citation Key43086