Role of GATA-4 in differentiation and survival of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Update on the genetic profile of mitral valve development and prolapse

The purpose of this review is to present a comprehensive overview of the literature published up to February 2024 on the PubMed database regarding the development of mitral valve disease, with detailed reference to mitral valve prolapse, from embryology to a genetic profile. Out of the 3291 publications that deal with mitral valve embryology, 215 refer to mitral valve genetics and 83 were selected for further analysis. After reviewing these data, we advocate for the importance of a gene-based therapy that should be available soon, to prevent or treat non-invasively the valvular degeneration.

Identification of Disease-relevant, Sex-based Proteomic Differences in iPSC-derived Vascular Smooth Muscle

The prevalence of cardiovascular disease varies with sex, and the impact of intrinsic sex-based differences on vasculature is not well understood. Animal models can provide important insight into some aspects of human biology, however not all discoveries in animal systems translate well to humans. To explore the impact of chromosomal sex on proteomic phenotypes, we used iPSC-derived vascular smooth muscle cells from healthy donors of both sexes to identify sex-based proteomic differences and their possible effects on cardiovascular pathophysiology. Our analysis confirmed that differentiated cells have a proteomic profile more similar to healthy primary aortic smooth muscle than iPSCs. We also identified sex-based differences in iPSC- derived vascular smooth muscle in pathways related to ATP binding, glycogen metabolic process, and cadherin binding as well as multiple proteins relevant to cardiovascular pathophysiology and disease. Additionally, we explored the role of autosomal and sex chromosomes in protein regulation, identifying that proteins on autosomal chromosomes also show sex-based regulation that may affect the protein expression of proteins from autosomal chromosomes. This work supports the biological relevance of iPSC-derived vascular smooth muscle cells as a model for disease, and further exploration of the pathways identified here can lead to the discovery of sex-specific pharmacological targets for cardiovascular disease.

Significance

In this work, we have differentiated 4 male and 4 female iPSC lines into vascular smooth muscle cells, giving us the ability to identify statistically-significant sex-specific proteomic markers that are relevant to cardiovascular disease risk (such as PCK2, MTOR, IGFBP2, PTGR2, and SULTE1).

Oviduct Transcriptomic Reveals the Regulation of mRNAs and lncRNAs Related to Goat Prolificacy in the Luteal Phase

Simple Summary

The kidding number is an important reproductive trait in domestic goats. The oviduct, as one of the most major organs, is directly involved in the reproductive process, providing nutrition and a location for early embryonic development. The current study provides genome-wide expression profiles of mRNA and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) expression in Yunshang black goat, a new breed of meat goat bred in China with a high kidding number. During the luteal phases, oviduct mRNAs and lncRNAs associated with high- and low-fecundity Yunshang black goats were identified, and their potential biological functions were predicted using GO, KEGG, and GSEA enrichment analysis. These findings shed light on the oviduct-based prolificacy mechanism in goats.

Abstract

The oviduct is associated with embryo development and transportation and regulates the pregnancy success of mammals. Previous studies have indicated a molecular mechanism of lncRNAs in gene regulation and reproduction. However, little is known about the function of lncRNAs in the oviduct in modulating goat kidding numbers. Therefore, we combined RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to map the expression profiles of the oviduct at the luteal phase from high- and low-fecundity goats. The results showed that 2023 differentially expressed mRNAs (DEGs) and 377 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs) transcripts were screened, and 2109 regulated lncRNA-mRNA pairs were identified. Subsequently, the genes related to reproduction (IGF1, FGFRL1, and CREB1) and those associated with embryonic development and maturation (DHX34, LHX6) were identified. KEGG analysis of the DEGs revealed that the GnRH- and prolactin-signaling pathways, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, and oocyte meiosis were related to reproduction. GSEA and KEGG analyses of the target genes of DELs demonstrated that several biological processes and pathways might interact with oviduct functions and the prolificacy of goats. Furthermore, the co-expression network analysis showed that XLOC_029185, XLOC_040647, and XLOC_090025 were the cis-regulatory elements of the DEGs MUC1, PPP1R9A, and ALDOB, respectively; these factors might be associated with the success of pregnancy and glucolipid metabolism. In addition, the GATA4, LAMA2, SLC39A5, and S100G were trans-regulated by lncRNAs, predominantly mediating oviductal transport to the embryo and energy metabolism. Our findings could pave the way for a better understanding of the roles of mRNAs and lncRNAs in fecundity-related oviduct function in goats.

Differentiation of cardiomyocyte-like cells from human amniotic fluid mesenchymal stem cells by combined induction with human platelet lysate and 5-azacytidine

Human amniotic fluid mesenchymal stem cells (hAF-MSCs) have been shown to be effective in the treatment of many diseases. Platelet lysate (PL) contains multiple growth and differentiation factors; therefore, it can be used as a differentiation inducer. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the efficiency of human platelet lysate (hPL) on cell viability and the effects on cardiomyogenic differentiation of hAF-MSCs. When treating the cells with hPL, the result showed an increase in cell viability. Expressions of cardiomyogenic specific genes, including GATA4, cTnT, Cx43 and Nkx2.5, were higher in the combined treatment groups of 5-azacytidine (5-aza) and hPL than the expressions of cardiomyogenic specific genes in the control group and in the 5-aza treatment group. In terms of the results of immunofluorescence and immunoenzymatic staining, the highest expressions of cardiomyogenic specific proteins were revealed in combined treatment groups. It can be summarized that hPL may be an effective supporting cardiomyogenic supplementary factor for cardiomyogenic differentiation in hAF-MSCs.

Cardiomyogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells transduced with Tbx20-encoding lentiviral vectors

Ischemic heart disease often results in myocardial infarction and is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Improvement in the function of infarcted myocardium is a main purpose of cardiac regenerative medicine. One possible way to reach this goal is via stem cell therapy. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stromal cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types but display limited cardiomyogenic differentiation potential. Members of the T-box family of transcription factors including Tbx20 play important roles in heart development and cardiomyocyte homeostasis. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated the potential of Tbx20 to enhance the cardiomyogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived MSCs (ADMSCs). Human ADMSCs were transduced with a bicistronic lentiviral vector encoding Tbx20 (murine) and the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) and analyzed 7 and 14 days post transduction. Transduction of human ADMSCs with this lentiviral vector increased the expression of the cardiomyogenic differentiation markers ACTN1, TNNI3, ACTC1, NKX2.5, TBX20 (human), and GATA4 as revealed by RT-qPCR. Consistently, immunocytological results showed elevated expression of α-actinin and cardiac troponin I in these cells in comparison to the cells transduced with control lentiviral particles coding for eGFP alone. Accordingly, forced expression of Tbx20 exerts cardiomyogenic effects on human ADMSCs by increasing the expression of cardiomyogenic differentiation markers at the RNA and protein level.

Mechanical and Chemical Predifferentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Into Cardiomyocytes and Their Effectiveness on Acute Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction is one of the leading causes of death all over the world. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation has shown a promising potential to recovery of ischemic heart disease due to their capability in differentiating into cardiac cells. However, various investigations have been performed to optimize the efficacy of cardiac cell therapy in recent years. Here, we sought to interrogate the effect of autologous transplantation of undifferentiated and predifferentiated adipose and bone marrow-derived MSCs in a rabbit model of myocardial infarction and also to investigate whether cardiac function could be improved by mechanically induced MSCs via equiaxial cyclic strain. The two sources of MSCs were induced toward cardiomyocyte phenotype using mechanical loading and chemical factors and thereafter injected into the infarcted myocardium of 35 rabbits. Echocardiography and histopathology studies were used to evaluate cardiac function after 2 months. The results demonstrated significant scar size reduction and greater recovery of left ventricle ejection fraction after transplantation of predifferentiated cells, though the differences were not significant when comparing mechanically with chemically predifferentiated MSCs. Thus, although there was no significant improvement in infarcted myocardium between chemically and mechanically predifferentiated MSCs, mechanically induced cells are more preferred due to lack of any chemical intervention and cost reasonableness in their preparation method. Outcomes of this study may be useful for developing future therapeutic strategies, however long-term assessments are still required to further examine their effectiveness.

Polycomb protein family member CBX7 regulates intrinsic axon growth and regeneration

Neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) lose their intrinsic ability and fail to regenerate, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Polycomb group (PcG) proteins, which include PRC1 and PRC2 complexes function as gene repressors and are involved in many biological processes. Here we report that PRC1 components (polycomb chromobox (CBX) 2, 7, and 8) are novel regulators of axon growth and regeneration. Especially, knockdown of CBX7 in either embryonic cortical neurons or adult dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons enhances their axon growth ability. Two important transcription factors GATA4 and SOX11 are functional downstream targets of CBX7 in controlling axon regeneration. Moreover, knockdown of GATA4 or SOX11 in cultured DRG neurons inhibits axon regeneration response from CBX7 downregulation in DRG neurons. These findings suggest that targeting CBX signaling pathway may be a novel approach for promoting the intrinsic regenerative capacity of damaged CNS neurons.

Unravelling the effects of mechanical physiological conditioning on cardiac adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells in vitro and in silico

Mechanical conditioning is incompletely characterized for stimulating therapeutic cells within the physiological range. We sought to unravel the mechanism of action underlying mechanical conditioning of adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells (ATDPCs), both in vitro and in silico. Cardiac ATDPCs, grown on 3 different patterned surfaces, were mechanically stretched for 7 days at 1 Hz. A custom-designed, magnet-based, mechanical stimulator device was developed to apply ~10% mechanical stretching to monolayer cell cultures. Gene and protein analyses were performed for each cell type and condition. Cell supernatants were also collected to analyze secreted proteins and construct an artificial neural network. Gene and protein modulations were different for each surface pattern. After mechanostimulation, cardiac ATDPCs increased the expression of structural genes and there was a rising trend on cardiac transcription factors. Finally, secretome analyses revealed upregulation of proteins associated with both myocardial infarction and cardiac regeneration, such as regulators of the immune response, angiogenesis or cell adhesion. To conclude, mechanical conditioning of cardiac ATDPCs enhanced the expression of early and late cardiac genes in vitro. Additionally, in silico analyses of secreted proteins showed that mechanical stimulation of cardiac ATDPCs was highly associated with myocardial infarction and repair.

Differentiation of cardiomyocytes from amniotic fluid‑derived mesenchymal stem cells by combined induction with transforming growth factor β1 and 5‑azacytidine

As a novel type of seed cell, amniotic fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AFMSCs) are promising for the regeneration of myocardial cells. A focus of cardiovascular regenerative medicine is to improve the efficiency of AFMSC differentiation. The present study replaced the traditional method of AFMSC differentiation with a combined induction method, in order to improve the efficiency of directional differentiation. AFMSCs were obtained from rabbit amniotic fluid samples, and western blot analysis was performed to analyze the expression of octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4), and tumorigenicity experiments were conducted. AFMSCs were divided into the following 4 groups: Induction with transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1); induction with 5-azacytidine (5Aza); induction with TGFβ1 and 5Aza combined; and untreated controls. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to analyze the expression of cardiac-specific GATA binding protein 4 (GATA4), and immunofluorescence was employed to analyze the expression of cardiac troponin T (cTnT). In addition, western blotting was performed to analyze the expression of connexin 43, and transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the ultrastructure of the differentiated cells. AFMSCs exhibited positive OCT4 expression and were not observed to induce tumor development in nude mice. The expression levels of GATA4, cTnT, and connexin 43 in the combined induction group were markedly higher when compared with the remaining groups. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that differentiated cells exhibited myocardial cell characteristics. In conclusion, AFMSCs are multipotent, non-tumorigenic cells that are capable of differentiating into cardiomyocyte-like cells. This combined induction method may improve the efficiency of directed differentiation.

GATA-4 protects against hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte injury: effects on mitochondrial membrane potential

Our previous studies have suggested that GATA-4 increases the differentiation of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into cardiac phenotypes. This study further investigated whether GATA-4 enhances MSC-mediated cardioprotection following hypoxia. MSCs were harvested from rat bone marrow and transduced with GATA-4 (MSC(GATA-4)). To mimic ischemic injury, cultured cardiomyocytes (CMs) isolated from neonatal rat ventricles were exposed to hypoxia or were pretreated with concentrated conditioned medium (CdM) from MSC(GATA-4) or transduced control MSC (MSC(Null)) for 16 h before exposure to hypoxic culture conditions (low glucose and low oxygen). Myocyte damage was estimated by annexin-V-PE and TUNEL technique and by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. Cell survival was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) uptake. Mitochondrial membrane potential was determined using confocal microscopy. ELISA studies indicated that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were significantly increased in MSC(GATA-4) compared with MSC(Null). Hypoxia-induced apoptosis/cell death was significantly reduced when CMs were co-cultured with MSC(GATA-4) in a dual-chamber system. Cell protection mediated by MSC(GATA-4) was mimicked by treating CMs with CdM from MSC(GATA-4) and abrogated with IGF-1- and VEGF-neutralizing antibodies. MSC(GATA-4) protects CMs under hypoxic conditions. The release of IGF-1 and VEGF from MSC(GATA-4) is likely to be responsible for protection of CMs.

Cardiac stem cell therapy for cardiac repair

The discovery of adult cardiac stem cells (CSCs) and their potential to restore functional cardiac tissue has fueled unprecedented interest in recent years. Indeed, stem-cell–based therapies have the potential to transform the treatment and prognosis of heart failure, for they have the potential to eliminate the underlying cause of the disease by reconstituting the damaged heart with functional cardiac cells. Over the last decade, several independent laboratories have demonstrated the utility of c-kit+/Lin- resident CSCs in alleviating left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling in animal models of acute and chronic myocardial infarction. Recently, the first clinical trial of autologous CSCs for treatment of heart failure resulting from ischemic heart disease (Stem Cell Infusion in Patients with Ischemic cardiOmyopathy [SCIPIO]) has been conducted, and the interim results are quite promising. In this phase I trial, no adverse effects attributable to the CSC treatment have been noted, and CSC-treated patients showed a significant improvement in ejection fraction at 1 year (+13.7 absolute units versus baseline), accompanied by a 30.2 % reduction in infarct size. Moreover, the CSC-induced enhancement in cardiac structure and function was associated with a significant improvement in the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class and in the quality of life, as measured by the Minnesota Living with Heart failure Questionnaire. These results are exciting and warrant larger, phase II studies. However, CSC therapy for cardiac repair is still in its infancy, and many hurdles need to be overcome to further enhance the therapeutic efficacy of CSCs.

Reprogramming for cardiac regeneration

Treatment of cardiovascular diseases remains challenging considering the limited regeneration capacity of the heart muscle. Developments of reprogramming strategies to create in vitro and in vivo cardiomyocytes have been the focus point of a considerable amount of research in the past decades. The choice of cells to employ, the state-of-the-art methods for different reprogramming strategies, and their promises and future challenges before clinical entry, are all discussed here.

Evidence for bone marrow adult stem cell plasticity: properties, molecular mechanisms, negative aspects, and clinical applications of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells transdifferentiation

In contrast to the pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) which are able to give rise to all cell types of the body, mammalian adult stem cells (ASCs) appeared to be more limited in their differentiation potential and to be committed to their tissue of origin. Recently, surprising new findings have contradicted central dogmas of commitment of ASCs by showing their plasticity to differentiate across tissue lineage boundaries, irrespective of classical germ layer designations. The present paper supports the plasticity of the bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), bringing the most striking and the latest evidences of the transdifferentiation properties of the bone marrow hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells (BMHSCs, and BMMSCs), the two BM populations of ASCs better characterized. In addition, we report the possible mechanisms that may explain these events, outlining the clinical importance of these phenomena and the relative problems.