Scalable Generation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can be expanded at limitless scale in vitro and give rise to various organotypic cells, cardiomyocytes (CMs) among them. Advanced protocols shape the differentiation process of pluripotent stem cells by controlled growth factor application. Modulating the Wnt signaling pathway is effective to direct hiPSCs to CMs (hiPSC-CMs) and native growth factors were replaced by small chemical compounds. Here, we describe a refined protocol for scalable generation of hiPSC-CMs that manipulates porcupine and tankyrase sub-pathways of Wnt signaling for tight inhibition of non-canonical Wnt signaling. The approach results in a differentiation efficiency toward hiPSC-CMs of 87 ± 0.9% in stirred bioreactor cultures and yields about 70 million hiPSC-CMs per 100 mL serum free cardiac differentiation medium. The differentiation protocol is easily adapted from 3D to 2D culture and vice versa and has been demonstrated to work with different hiPSC lines.