Cardiac Regeneration by Intrinsic Cardiac Stem Cells

Cell therapy has been expected to be a new therapy for severe heart failure. We have reported that transplantation of cardiac progenitor cells with self-assembling nanopeptides prevents cardiac remodeling and dysfunction through angiogenesis, inhibition of apoptosis and myocardial regeneration. The secreted molecules specific to cardiac progenitors, such as VCAM-1, play a crucial role in the beneficial effects. Recently we identified another secreted molecules, which attenuated the inflammation through inhibiting transendothelial migration of leukocytes. Besides the transplanted cardiac progenitors, the regenerative capacity of intrinsic cardiac progenitors has not been elucidated. The lineage mapping analysis by using a double-transgenic alphaMHC-MerCreMer/CAG-LacZ mouse enabled us to identify newly formed cardiomyocytes after treatment with 4-OH-tamoxifen. We identified that leukemia inhibitory factor promoted cardiomyogenesis after myocardial infarction. Although it is still unclear whether proliferation, anti-apoptosis, or differentiation of cardiac stem cells is related to the underlying mechanism, however, this finding suggests that the intrinsic cardiac stem cell is a potent target for cardiac regeneration therapy.