Reprogramming Heart Cells
Biomedical scientists at the Gladstone Institutes (affiliated with the University of California at San Francisco) have found that adding two chemicals, TGF-beta and WNT inhibitors-advanced stem cell reprogramming for cardiomyocytes in terms of both transformation rate and time. In the published paper abstract, these researchers asserted: “We found that a combination of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β inhibitor SB431542 and the WNT inhibitor XAV939 increased reprogramming efficiency eight-fold when added to GMT-overexpressing cardiac fibroblasts. The small-molecules also enhanced the speed and the quality of cell conversion, as we observed beating cells as early as 1 week after reprogramming compared to 6-8 weeks with GMT alone. In vivo, mice exposed to GMT, SB431542, and XAV939 for 2 weeks after myocardial infarction showed significantly improved reprogramming and cardiac function compared to those exposed to only GMT. Human cardiac reprogramming was similarly enhanced upon TGF-β and WNT inhibition and was achieved most efficiently with GMT plus Myocardin. MORE
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