Fibrogenic Potential of PW1/Peg3 Expressing Cardiac Stem Cells

AbstractBackground

Pw1 gene expression is a marker of adult stem cells in a wide range of tissues. PW1-expressing cells are detected in the heart but are not well characterized.

Objectives

The authors characterized cardiac PW1-expressing cells and their cell fate potentials in normal hearts and during cardiac remodeling following myocardial infarction (MI).

Methods

A human cardiac sample was obtained from a patient presenting with reduced left ventricular (LV) function following a recent MI. The authors used the PW1^nLacZ+/– reporter mouse to identify, track, isolate, and characterize PW1-expressing cells in the LV myocardium in normal and ischemic conditions 7 days after complete ligature of the left anterior descending coronary artery.

Results

In both human and mouse ischemic hearts, PW1 expression was found in cells that were mainly located in the infarct and border zones. Isolated cardiac resident PW1⁺ cells form colonies and have the potential to differentiate into multiple cardiac and mesenchymal lineages, with preferential differentiation into fibroblast-like cells but not into cardiomyocytes. Lineage-tracing experiments revealed that PW1⁺ cells differentiated into fibroblasts post-MI. Although the expression of c-Kit and PW1 showed little overlap in normal hearts, a marked increase in cells coexpressing both markers was observed in ischemic hearts (0.1 ± 0.0% in control vs. 5.7 ± 1.2% in MI; p < 0.001). In contrast to the small proportion of c-Kit⁺/PW1^– cells that showed cardiogenic potential, c-Kit⁺/PW1⁺ cells were fibrogenic.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated the existence of a novel population of resident adult cardiac stem cells expressing PW1⁺ and their involvement in fibrotic remodeling after MI.

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