Cardiac reprogramming: from mouse toward man

Loss of cardiomyocytes from cardiovascular disease is irreversible and current therapeutic strategies do not redress the loss of myocardium after injury. The discovery that endogenous fibroblasts in the heart can be reprogrammed to cardiomyocyte-like cells after myocardial infarction and heart function is improved subsequently has strong implications in bringing this treatment paradigm to the clinic. Here we discuss the advances in direct cardiac reprogramming that will potentially act as a springboard in the generation of effective approaches to restoring cardiac function after injury.