A Novel Population of Human Cardiac Resident Mesenchymal Stem Cells

We describe a novel population of human adult cardiac resident stem cells (CRSCs), which are positive for W8B2 antigen, originating from human adult atrial appendages. W8B2+ CRSCs exhibit a spindle-shaped morphology, are clonogenic and able to self-renew. W8B2+ CRSCs show high expression of mesenchymal but not hematopoietic nor endothelial markers. W8B2+ CRSCs expressed GATA4, HAND2, and TBX5, but not C-KIT, SCA-1, NKX2.5, PDGFRa, ISL1 or Wilm’s tumor gene-1 (WT1). W8B2+ CRSCs can differentiate into the cardiovascular lineages and secrete various cytokines. Overall design: Comparative RNA sequencing was performed using W8B2+ cell from human atrial appendages (passage 2 from 3 different patients), c-Kit+ cell from human atrial appendages (passage 2 from 3 different patients) and W8B2+ cell from bone marrow (passage 3 from 2 different patients, from PromoCell, Heidelberg, Germany).