Cardiac reprogramming changed the interstitial cell landscape in chronic myocardial infarction

Direct cardiac reprogramming may be a promising approach for both cardiac regeneration and anti-fibrotic therapy. The overexpression of cardiac transcription factors, including Gata4, Mef2c, Tbx5 (GMT), and GMT+Hand2, directly reprograms a subset of CFs into induced CMs (iCMs) in vitro. Moreover, viral vector-mediated in vivo cardiac reprogramming converts resident CFs into iCMs, improves cardiac function, and reduces fibrosis in acute MI; however, whether cardiac reprogramming can repair chronic MI with an established scar is undetermined.