Lentiviral vectors bearing the cardiac promoter of the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger report cardiogenic differentiation in stem cells.

ABSTRACT: Cardiosphere-derived resident cardiac stem cells (CDCs) are readily isolated from adult hearts and confer functional benefit in animal models of heart failure. To study cardiogenic differentiation in CDCs, we developed a method to genetically label and selectively enrich for cells that have acquired a cardiac phenotype. Lentiviral vectors achieved significantly higher transduction efficiencies in CDCs than any of the nine adeno-associated viral (AAV) serotypes tested. To define the most suitable vector system for reporting cardiogenic differentiation, we compared the cell specificity of five commonly-used cardiac-specific promoters in the context of lentiviral vectors. The promoter of the cardiac sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX1) conveyed the highest degree of cardiac specificity, as assesse

SUBMITTER: Barth AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2717010 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature