Bmi1 inhibitor PTC-209 promotes Chemically-induced Direct Cardiac Reprogramming of cardiac fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes.

ABSTRACT: The development of therapeutic approaches based on direct cardiac reprogramming of fibroblasts into induced-cardiomyocytes (iCM) has emerged as an attractive strategy to repair the injured myocardium. The identification of the mechanisms driving lineage conversion represents a crucial step toward the development of new and more efficient regenerative strategies. To this aim, here we show that pre-treatment with the Bmi1 inhibitor PTC-209 is sufficient to increase the efficiency of Chemical-induced Direct Cardiac Reprogramming both in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and adult cardiac fibroblasts. PTC-209 induces an overall increase of spontaneously beating iCM at end-stage of reprogramming, expressing high levels of late cardiac markers Troponin T and myosin muscle light chain-2v. The inhibitio

SUBMITTER: Testa G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7189257 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature