title: Differentiation of reprogrammed mouse cardiac fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes.
abstract: Fibroblasts can be reprogrammed by ectopic expression of reprogramming factors to yield induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that are capable of transdifferentiating into diverse types of somatic cell lines. In this study, we examined if functional cardiomyocytes (CMs) can be produced from mouse cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), using iPS cell factor-based reprogramming. CFs were isolated from Oct4-GFP-C57 mice and infected with a retrovirus expressing the Yamanaka reprogramming factors, Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc to reprogram the CFs into a CF-iPS cell line. Primary mouse embryonic fibroblast cells (MEFs) were used as a control. We found that the dedifferentiated CF-iPS cells showed similar biological characteristics (morphology, pluripotent factor expression, and methylation level) as embryonic stem cells (ESs) and MEF-iPS cells. We used the classical embryoid bodies (EBs)-based method and a transwell CM co-culture system to simulate the myocardial paracrine microenvironment for performing CF-iPS cell cardiogenic differentiation. Under this simulated myocardial microenvironment, CF-iPS cells formed spontaneously beating EBs. The transdifferentiated self-beating cells expressed cardiac-specific transcription and structural factors and also displayed typical myocardial morphology and electrophysiological characteristics. CFs can be dedifferentiated into iPS cells and further transdifferentiated into CMs. CFs hold great promise for CM regeneration as an autologous cell source for functional CM in situ without the need for exogenous cell transplantation in ischemic heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Qingpeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yazhou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhongming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming / Q000187:drug effects; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D058732:Embryoid Bodies / Q000502:physiology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D000090062:Kruppel-Like Factor 4; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors / Q000494:pharmacology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology*; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000494:pharmacology; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000494:pharmacology; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: C000715468:Klf4 protein, mouse; D000090062:Kruppel-Like Factor 4; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors