Early Multipotent Cardiovascular Progenitors Derived from Pluripotent Stem Cells Engraft in Postmyocard Infarted Primate

During embryogenesis, the cardiac cell fate is acquired as early as gastrulation. There is compelling evidence that embryonic stem cells (ESC) can recapitulate early steps in cardiogenesis. Identification from human pluripotent stem cells of early cardiovascular cell progenitors, at the origin of the first cardiac lineage, would shed light on human normal and pathological cardiogenesis and would pave the way toward cell therapy for cardiac degenerative diseases. Here, we report the isolation, and a phenotypic characterisation of an early Oct-4+, SSEA-1+, Mesp1+ population of cardiovascular progenitors derived from human pluripotent stem cells. This multipotential progenitor features the capability to generate cardiomyocytes as well as smooth muscle and endothelial cells. We further bring a proof of concept that these progenitors can be used in cardiac regenerative medicine as allografted in infarcted non human primate myocardium, they differentiate in ventricular myocytes without any adverse effect. One RNA sample from HUESC-POU5F1 was compared in dye-swap to undifferentiated HUESC. Three distinct RNA samples from BMP2-induced SSEA1+ cells were compared in dye-swap to paired remaining SSEA1-. Reference samples correspond to undifferentiated HUESC and to SSEA1 negative cells, respectively. population respectivement.