iPSC-derived human cardiac progenitor cells improve ventricular remodelling via angiogenesis and interstitial networking of infarcted myocardium

Here they investigate the effects of myocardial transplantation of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived progenitors and cardiomyocytes into acutely infarcted myocardium in immune deficient mice. iPSC cultured on Matrigel and differentiated in EB structures. Differences in integrin and laminin expression between cardiac progenitors and cardiomyocytes were observed. The a6 integrin was higher expressed in progenitors and integrin a1, a2, a3, a7 and b1 higher expression in cardiomyocytes. They observed a distinct swish in expression profile of laminin subunits during cardiac differentiation with laminin-411/421 pre-dominantly expressed early in progenitors and laminin-211/221 expressed later in cardiomyocytes. Improvements of myocardial function in the progenitor group corresponded to increased vascularization and coincided with augmented networking of cardiac telocytes in the interstitial space of the infarcted zone. Laminin-221/211-expressing cardiomyocytes only retained and engrafted around myofibres in the peri-infarct region.