中心主任《Nature》封面文章 用干细胞造心脏（图）

　　

生物通报道，再生医学的梦想是未来能人造人类器官，今天Nature网站头条发布了一篇前瞻性的研究成果，也许人造心脏之梦就将圆梦。7月2日出版的《Nature》杂志发表了一篇心脏祖细胞的研究成果，Human ISL1 heart progenitors generate diverse multipotent cardiovascular cell lineages。

 

文章通讯作者是来自哈佛医学院，麻省总医院心血管研究中心的主任Kenneth R.Chien，主要从事心血管干细胞生物学方面的研究。Kenneth R.Chien所在实验室从1990年开始研究心血管科学。

 

一直以来，科学家们认为存在一种心脏干细胞，它具有多能性，可分化成为心脏中各类不同的细胞亚型。然而，这一猜想一直没有被证实，科学家一直没有分离到这类干细胞。心脏祖细胞有多种，要从中筛选出并非易事。

 

哈佛医学院的Kenneth R.Chien等人经过多年努力，终于鉴定出一种理想的心脏干细胞，这种干细胞从胎儿心脏祖细胞中分离获得，这种祖细胞的细胞标记是ISL1，称为ISL1+心脏祖细胞。

 

这类细胞能分化成心脏的三大类细胞：心肌细胞、平滑肌细胞和内皮细胞。研究人员为了验证这一结论，应用转基因及基因定向技术在人类胚胎干细胞系中分析ISL1+祖细胞。研究结果表明，ISL1+祖细胞具有自我更新能力（干细胞的典型特征），同时可分化成为心脏的三大类细胞系。

 

这些研究结果为人类心脏病以及心脏再生医学提供了新的治疗思路，具有重要的意义。

（生物通 小茜）

生物通推荐原文检索：Human ISL1 heart progenitors generate diverse multipotent cardiovascular cell lineages

Lei Bu1,2,4, Xin Jiang1,2,4, Silvia Martin-Puig1,2, Leslie Caron1,2, Shenjun Zhu1, Ying Shao1, Drucilla J. Roberts3, Paul L. Huang1, Ibrahim J. Domian1,2 & Kenneth R. Chien1,2

 

Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charles River Plaza/CPZN 3208, 185 Cambridge Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA

Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 185 Cambridge Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA

 

【Abstract】

The generation and expansion of diverse cardiovascular cell lineages is a critical step during human cardiogenesis, with major implications for congenital heart disease. Unravelling the mechanisms for the diversification of human heart cell lineages has been hampered by the lack of genetic tools to purify early cardiac progenitors and define their developmental potential1, 2, 3, 4. Recent studies in the mouse embryo have identified a multipotent cardiac progenitor that contributes to all of the major cell types in the murine heart5, 6, 7, 8. In contrast to murine development, human cardiogenesis has a much longer onset of heart cell lineage diversification and expansion, suggesting divergent pathways. Here we identify a diverse set of human fetal ISL1+ cardiovascular progenitors that give rise to the cardiomyocyte, smooth muscle and endothelial cell lineages. Using two independent transgenic and gene-targeting approaches in human embryonic stem cell lines, we show that purified ISL1+ primordial progenitors are capable of self-renewal and expansion before differentiation into the three major cell types in the heart. These results lay the foundation for the generation of human model systems for cardiovascular disease and novel approaches for human regenerative cardiovascular medicine.