INEB RECENT PUBLICATIONS: "Stable Phenotype and Function of Immortalized Lin-Sca-1+ Cardiac Progenitor Cells in Long Term Culture: A Step Closer to Standardization"

INEB researchers recently published an article in the scientific journal Stem Cells and Development, available since 14 February of 2014.

Title: Stable Phenotype and Function of Immortalized Lin-Sca-1+ Cardiac Progenitor Cells in Long Term Culture: A Step Closer to Standardization

Authors: Ana G. Freire,* Diana S. Nascimento,* Giancarlo Forte,* Mariana Valente, Tatiana P. Resende, Stefania Pagliari, Cláudia Abreu, Isabel Carvalho, Paolo Di Nardo, and Perpétua Pinto-do-Ó

A decade has passed since putative cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) were identified, and yet most of the aspects concerning their biology are still undefined. The generation of faithful cellular models would facilitate this scrutiny. In this study we validate iCPC^Sca-1, a line of immortalized Lin^-Sca-1⁺ CPCs, as an in vitro model system to study this subset of progenitors. The cell line resembles at the molecular and functional level the native-cell counterpart in vitro, as well as in vivo after intramyocardial delivery in the onset of myocardial infarction (MI). Transplanted iCPC^Sca-1 significantly attenuated the functional and anatomical alterations caused by MI through mechanisms that involve the promotion of neovascularization. In the host myocardium iCPC^Sca-1 differentiated in cardiomyocyte- and vasculature-like cells at modest rates. iCPC^Sca1 constitute a platform for mechanistic studies towards the development of novel strategies for restoration of the damaged myocardium.