Single-cell analysis of human fetal epicardium reveals its cellular composition and identifies CRIP1 as a modulator of EMT

Epicardial cells can undergo epithelium-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) upon which the epicardium-derived cells (EPDCs) migrate into the myocardium and deliver growth factors or differentiate into smooth muscle cells or fibroblasts. The cell fate of EPDCs has been proposed to be determined by the persistence of subpopulations found in the proepicardial organ, but findings regarding this epicardial heterogeneity have been inconsistent. In the human heart, the composition of the developing epicardium is largely unknown. Here we performed a direct analysis of the human fetal epicardium through single cell RNA sequencing to investigate its composition and to search for regulators of developmental processes Isolated epicardial cells of human fetal hearts (14-15 weeks) were sorted by Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) based on viability and analyzed using scRNA seq