The heart is a highly organized organ that regularly and rhythmically pumps blood throughout the body. When heart tissue suffers from ischemia, the injured myocardium is not fully repaired due to its low proliferative capacity. Subsequent fibrosis leads to structural remodeling followed by congestive heart failure. Currently, apart from heart transplantation, no curative therapy is available for the failing heart. To address this medical issue, extensive research has been dedicated to developing cardiac regeneration therapies. For cell therapy to replace the fibrotic myocardium in failing hearts, the most promising cell source is induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes can be produced with optimized differentiation protocols and have been approved for clinical use. However, concerns remain regarding their structural and functional immaturity and the risk of tumorigenic undifferentiated cell contamination. Recent advances in regenerative medicine and bioengineering have been overcoming these hurdles. This review summarizes the history and current status of clinical application of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Additionally, potential utilities of animal-derived iPSCs in veterinary medicine are also discussed particularly focusing on canine and feline cardiology.

T-wave Peak-End : QT比(TpTe : QT)は，心筋再分極の不均一性を反映する指標であり，人医療では心室性不整脈および死亡率と関連することが報告されている。我々はこの指標が犬の拡張型心筋症(DCM)の病態進行と関連していると考え，予後予測に有用であると仮説を立てた。本研究はステージB2のDCM犬を回顧的に調査した後ろ向きコホート研究であり，診断後2年以内に死亡した症例をEarly Mortality群と定義し，他の症例はControl群とした。TpTe : QTは標準肢誘導心電図により得られ，T波は接線法で終端を定義して測定した。Early Mortalityの予測およびカットオフ基準の算出のためにROC曲線を用いて解析を行なったところ，TpTe : QTは高いAUC値（AUC 0.90;カットオフ値0.20，感度89％，特異度92％）を示した。したがってTpTe : QTはステージB2のDCM犬における新たな予後指標としての可能性を有すると思われた。本研究は，今後実施されるより大規模な前向き臨床研究の前調査として有用な情報を提供したといえる。