ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Despite tremendous efforts and investments in heart failure research, current therapies are inadequate to reduce the societal burden of this disease. Cardiac transplantation provides the only durable therapy in the long term. However, only a small fraction of the patients are eligible to receive this treatment. Advances in cell-based therapies have raised exciting prospects for new treatments. To realize this promise we need a greater understanding of the mechanisms involved in cardiac cell lineage commitment and differentiation. Embryonic cardiogenesis provides the most appropriate context to study the developmental transition from a multipotent undifferentiated stem cell to a differentiated cardiomyocyte. A greater understanding of the logic of heart formation will accelerate the translation of promising cell-based therapies from bench to bedside and reduce the burden of this disease.
