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Transdifferentiation of Human Endothelial Progenitors into Smooth Muscle Cells

ABSTRACT: Derivation of induced smooth muscle cells (iSMC) through direct transdifferentiation of a convenient and expandable primary cell source would open a wide range of prospects for their use in tissue engineering, drug testing, and disease modeling. Hypothesizing that MYOCD as a master regulator of smooth muscle gene expression would facilitate the generation of iSMC, we studied the conversion of human endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) into iSMC through the induced expression of by over-expression of MYOCD. A significant cytoskeletal rearrangement of the EPC resembling that of mesenchymal cells occurred within 3 days post initiation of MYOCD expression. This transition was associated with a downregulation of endothelial cell surface markers (CD31, CD105) as determined by flow cytometry. By day 7, iSMC derivation was evident with a significant upregulation of smooth muscle markers ACTA2, MYH11, TAGLN, and downregulation of CD31 and CDH5 as determined by gene expression analysis. Immunofluorescence revealed expression of MYH11 and ACTA2 and absence of endothelial markers VWF and CD31. By two weeks, microarray gene expression analysis demonstrated a significant similarity between iSMC and umbilical artery SMC (UASMC). The iSMC continued to develop toward the SMC lineage after four weeks of MYOCD induced expression. Microarray gene expression analysis showed an upregulation of molecular pathways associated with smooth muscle contraction and cytoskeletal reorganization in iSMC. Calcium transients were detected in iSMC when stimulated with phenylephrine but not in EPC. Contractility of iSMC was also higher than that of EPC as determined by traction force microscopy. Tissue-engineered blood vessels constructed using iSMC showed functionality with respect to flow- and drug- mediated vasodilation and vasoconstriction. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying the transdifferentiation of endothelial progenitor cells into smooth muscle cells via the transient induced expression of the transcriptional co factor MYOCD

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE73469 | GEO | 2016/03/21

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA297062

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries and there is compelling evidence that the majority of these fatalities are secondary to rupture of unstable atherosclerotic plaques. However, the mechanisms that control plaque stability are poorly understood, although it is widely believed that plaques having a decreased ratio of cells positive for smooth muscle cell (SMC) markers such as ACTA2 relative to macrophage markers are more likely to rupture. Herein we employMyh11-CreERT2 ROSA floxed STOP eYFP Apoe-/- mice to trace SMC lineage and show that traditional methods for detecting SMCs based on immunostaining for SMC markers like ACTA2 are unable to detect 82% of SMC-derived cells within advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Moreover, we show that these SMC-derived cells within advanced lesions exhibit multiple phenotypes including activation of multiple markers of macrophages, mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), and myofibroblasts (MF). Importantly, we show that SMC-derived macrophage like cells are phagocytic based on electron microscope YFP immunolabeling. In addition, results of single cell epigenetic assays developed in our lab shows that nearly 20% of macrophage-like cells within human lesions are of SMC not myeloid origin. These phenotypic transitions appear to be critical in lesion pathogenesis, in that we show that SMC-specific conditional knockout (KO) of the pluripotency factor, Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), resulted in marked reductions in lesion size, increases in multiple indices of plaque stability, and reduced numbers of SMC-derived MSC- and macrophage-like cells. Finally, we show that cholesterol loading of cultured SMC is associated with activation of multiple markers of macrophages and MSC, secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and increased phagocytosis, all of which are Klf4 dependent. Taken together, results indicate that the contribution of SMCs within atherosclerotic plaques has been greatly underestimated, and that loss of Klf4 within SMC result in major changes in SMC phenotype and function that play a major role in lesion pathogenesis. Examination of KLF4 transcription factor in an atherosclerosis setting

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Transdifferentiation of Human Endothelial Progenitors into Smooth Muscle Cells

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