Microengineered systems with iPSC-derived cardiac and hepatic cells to evaluate drug adverse effects.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Cardiac and hepatic adverse drug effects are among the leading causes of attrition in preclinical and clinical drug development programs as well as marketing withdrawals. The insufficiency of animal testing models has led to considerable interest in the employment of cardiac and hepatic models using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for drug toxicity testing. However, current batches of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and hepatocytes are variable and not matured as adult primary tissues, which limit their prediction of drug effects. This article discusses how the use of microfluidics can create microenvironments to better control differentiation protocols and increase the physiological relevance of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and hepatocytes. Development and standardization of technologies will enable evaluation of the potential value of cellular microsystems to improve the in vitro models used in drug development programs. Future steps in this field include controlled connections of organ systems to better recreate clinical metabolism and pharmacokinetics.