Human cardiosphere-derived cells from patients with chronic ischaemic heart disease can be routinely expanded from atrial but not epicardial ventricular biopsies.

Journal article

To investigate the effects of age and disease on endogenous cardiac progenitor cells, we obtained right atrial and left ventricular epicardial biopsies from patients (n = 22) with chronic ischaemic heart disease and measured doubling time and surface marker expression in explant- and cardiosphere-derived cells (EDCs, CDCs). EDCs could be expanded from all atrial biopsy samples, but sufficient cells for cardiosphere culture were obtained from only 8 of 22 ventricular biopsies. EDCs from both atrium and ventricle contained a higher proportion of c-kit+ cells than CDCs, which contained few such cells. There was wide variation in expression of CD90 (atrial CDCs 5-92 % CD90+; ventricular CDCs 11-89 % CD90+), with atrial CDCs cultured from diabetic patients (n = 4) containing 1.6-fold more CD90+ cells than those from non-diabetic patients (n = 18). No effect of age or other co-morbidities was detected. Thus, CDCs from atrial biopsies may vary in their therapeutic potential.

Authors: Chan, H; Meher Homji, Z; Gomes, R; Sweeney, D; Thomas, G

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Journal of cardiovascular translational research
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 678-687
• Publication date: 2012-10-01
• DOI: 10.1007/s12265-012-9389-0
• EISSN: 1937-5395
• ISSN: 1937-5387
• Language: English
• Keywords: Male; Biological Markers; Adult; Severity of Illness Index; Cell Separation; Cell Differentiation; Flow Cytometry; Smoking; Diabetes Mellitus; Hypercholesterolemia; Stem Cells; Myocardial Ischemia; Antigens, Thy-1; Heart Atria; Hypertension; Biopsy; Cell Culture Techniques; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit; Middle Aged; Humans; Chronic Disease; Spheroids, Cellular; Aged, 80 and over; Heart Ventricles; Female; Cell Proliferation; Pericardium; Aged