New Therapeutic Approaches to Cardiac Repair
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 26
Special Issue Editor
Interests: cardiac regeneration and blood brain barrier integrity studies
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Emerging genetic and RNA platforms are redefining cardiac repair, from symptom management to true myocardial regeneration. CRISPR systems—now extending to base/prime editing and CRISPR a / i (CRISPR activation, CRISPR interference)—enable the precise correction or silencing of cardiomyopathy drivers and the re-engagement of regenerative programs in situ, with improved delivery via adeno-associated viruses and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). Modified mRNA therapies entail the transient, controllable expression of pro-repair factors (e.g., angiogenic or cell-cycle cues) and are progressing from preclinical models toward early clinical evaluation in cardiovascular disease. Circular RNA (circRNA) therapeutics allow durable protein expression with lower innate immunogenicity and can be engineered to modulate death and stress pathways central in ischemic injury and remodeling. Beyond nucleic acids, engineered extracellular vesicles/exosomes function as biocompatible delivery shuttles and paracrine modulators that reprogram inflammation and metabolism after infarction. Parallel tissue-level strategies—the direct reprogramming of resident fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocytes and next-generation epicardial patches (including 3D-bioprinted and engineered heart muscle grafts)—are designed to remuscularize the scarred myocardium and restore pump function. The pathways of these bench-to-bedside modalities, coupled with image-guided targeting and smart biomaterials, ultimately converge toward the goal of precise gene/RNA control, targeted delivery, and structural rebuilding to achieve lasting cardiac repair.
Dr. Dinakar Iyer
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- cardiac regeneration
- CRISPR/base editing
- mRNA therapeutics
- circular RNA (circRNA)
- lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)
- engineered exosomes/extracellular vesicles
- direct cardiac reprogramming
- engineered heart muscle/3D cardiac patches
- myocardial infarction repair
- translational cardiology
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