Gene profile of dystrophic cardiac progenitor cells

Cardiac resident stem/progenitor cells are intensively studied as a potential therapeutic tool for cardiomyopathies. While surface marker expression and ability to generate cardiomyocytes have been characterized in some detail for several types of these progenitors, little is known on how their cardiac differentiation is regulated. Beta sarcoglycan null (bSG KO) mice are a model for limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2E (LGMD2E), and are characterized by muscular dystrophy and progressive dilated cardiomyopathy. In the present study we isolated and characterized cardiac progenitors (mesoangioblasts) from the small vessels of neonatal hearts bSG KO mice and unexpectedly observed that they differentiate spontaneously into skeletal muscle fibers both in vitro and when transplanted in regenerating muscles and infarcted hearts. The micro array data showed that dystrophic cardiac progenitor and myogenic cells (C2C12) share similar gene expression profile. Keywords: Beta sarcoglycan null mice, muscular dystrophy, cardiac mesoangioblasts, myogenic differentiation Biological triplicates of cardiac wild-type and dystrophic mesoangioblasts isolated from different heart region (atrium, ventricle, aorta) were compared. C2C12 cells were used as positive control for myogenic differentiation.