Purpose of review: The goal of this paper is to review present knowledge regarding biological pacemakers created by somatic reprogramming as a platform for mechanistic and metabolic understanding of the rare subpopulation of pacemaker cells, with the ultimate goal of creating biological alternatives to electronic pacing devices.
Recent findings: Somatic reprogramming of cardiomyocytes by reexpression of embryonic transcription factor T-box 18 (TBX18) converts them into pacemaker-like. Recent studies take advantage of this model to gain insight into the electromechanical, metabolic, and architectural intricacies of the cardiac pacemaker cell across various models, including a surgical model of complete atrioventricular block (CAVB) in adult rats. The studies reviewed here reinforce the potential utility of TBX18-induced pacemaker myocytes (iPMS) as a minimally invasive treatment for heart block. Several challenges which must be overcome to develop a viable therapeutic intervention based on these observations are discussed.
Keywords: Atrioventricular block; Biological pacemaker; Bradycardia; Gene therapy; Induced pacemaker myocytes.