title: Human fetal cardiac progenitors: The role of stem cells and progenitors in the fetal and adult heart.
abstract: The human fetal heart is formed early during embryogenesis as a result of cell migrations, differentiation, and formative blood flow. It begins to beat around gestation day 22. Progenitor cells are derived from mesoderm (endocardium and myocardium), proepicardium (epicardium and coronary vessels), and neural crest (heart valves, outflow tract septation, and parasympathetic innervation). A variety of molecular disturbances in the factors regulating the specification and differentiation of these cells can cause congenital heart disease. This review explores the contribution of different cardiac progenitors to the embryonic heart development; the pathways and transcription factors guiding their expansion, migration, and functional differentiation; and the endogenous regenerative capacity of the adult heart including the plasticity of cardiomyocytes. Unfolding these mechanisms will become the basis for understanding the dynamics of specific congenital heart disease as well as a means to develop therapy for fetal as well as postnatal cardiac defects and heart failure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Anesthesiology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: ivana.bulatovic@ki.se.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bulatovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Agneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Månsson-Broberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christer
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sylvén
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Anesthesiology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Center for Diseases of Aging (CDA) at Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI), Port St Lucie, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Karl-Henrik
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Grinnemo
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002465:Cell Movement; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D004699:Endocardium / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D053686:Fetal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000166:cytology*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000166:cytology*; D010496:Pericardium / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology
keywords: congenital heart disease; embryonic; heart; human; stem cells; transcription factors