Human Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Organoid-Like Structures: Generation and Applications

Since 2017, the interest in cardiac organoids has flourished. Their critical benefit relies on the three-dimensional organization and multicellular composition that mimic cardiac tissue structure and complexity. Stem cells, particularly pluripotent stem cells, fundamentally contributed to creating cardiac organoids. Indeed, the differentiation of stem cells into various cardiac cells, including cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, cardiac fibroblasts, or macrophages, is essential for the incorporation of multiple cell lineages. Furthermore, the spatial organization allows modeling cell-to-cell communication and the interaction of the cells with the extracellular matrix as major features for cell differentiation and function. Stem cell-derived cardiac organoids aim at multiple applications such as studying cardiac development and diseases, elaborating novel therapies, screening therapeutic drugs, and testing for toxicity. In addition, patient-specific stem cell-derived cardiac organoids drive and empower precision medicine. We review here the different types of cardiac organoids, focusing on the human cardiac organoids engineered from pluripotent stem cells. Then, we introduce their different applications in fundamental and applied biology and biomedicine.