Direct reprogramming of adult adipose-derived regenerative cells toward cardiomyocytes using six transcriptional factors II

It is widely accepted that adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs) can differentiate into mesodermal lineage cells. However, reprogramming adult ADRCs into mature cardiomyocytes is challenging. We investigated the induction of myocardial differentiation in ADRCs via direct reprogramming using lentiviral gene transfer. We ultimately confirmed that the combination of six unique factors (Baf60c, Gata4, Gata6, Klf15, Mef2a, and Myocd) could efficiently express enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) in ADRCs isolated from adult alpha-myosin heavy chain promoter-driven GFP transgenic mice. Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for culture ADRCs from adult mouse adipose tissue, and the GFP-positive ADRCs (6F-ADRCs) induced by six factors collected three weeks after transduction by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)