Somatic Reprogramming May Create Biological Pacemakers

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — "Somatic reprogramming is a strategy in which we are not modifying a single part of the cell, but we are reprogramming a normal cell to transform it into a pacemaker cell," said Eugenio Cingolani, MD, director of the Cardiogenetics-Familial Arrhythmia Clinic at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Those specialized cells in our sinoatrial node, which are few, can be reprogrammed and recreated starting from a normal heart cell."

Cingolani made these remarks during the session titled "Biological Pacemakers: Are We There Yet?" at the Annual Congress of International Cardiology CADECI 2023.

The specialist indicated that the first biological pacemaker was described by Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, in the journal Nature in 2002. Cingolani explained that a normal heart beats more than 2 million times during a lifetime, but when the system that generates the synchronization of the beats fails, pacemakers can compensate.

Marbán and colleagues created a mutation in the ion channel of a current that normally slows down myocardial depolarization. "By inducing this genetic change in animals, they have spontaneous antipolarizations and a parasystolic beat, as can be seen on the electrocardiogram. Alternative strategies to pacemakers have been sought," said Cingolani.

Source: MEDspace