Title : Pericyte progenitor cells as novel cell source for cardiac tissue regeneration
Abstract:
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of human mortality with high socioeconomic burden in developing and industrialized countries because of limited cardiac cell regeneration capacity. Along with conventional modalities, the advent of cell-based therapies has revolutionized the human medicine. Stem cells are valid cell sources to accelerate the healing mechanisms induced by various insulting conditions. Molecular data have indicated that stem cells exhibited specific metabolic status with intracellular and membrane-bound biomarkers, resulting in the maintenance of stemness characteristics. Pericytes and their progenies (NG1, and CD146 positive cells) exhibited putative regenerative potential to restore the function of injured cells following different pathologies. These cells can orient into vascular cells in order to maintain the vascular homeostasis and angiogenesis capacity according to tissue and cell demands via paracrine and direct differentiation into target lineages. Emerging data have confirmed critical role of pericyte progenitors in the alleviation of cardiac tissue injuries via applying various mechanisms following ischemic changes, inflammatory responses etc. How and by which mechanisms these cells can accelerate the healing process within the cardiac tissue parenchyma is at the center of debate. Here, we aimed to highlight the great potential of pericyte progenitors along with other stem cell types in the restoration of injured cardiac tissue function via angiogenesis and cardiogenesis. How these cells can orchestrate these fundamental regenerative potentials will be discussed in cellular and molecular levels. understanding these mechanisms can help researchers and clinicians in development of new modalities in patients with ischemic and degenerative heart diseases.
Keywords: Cardiac tissue injuries; Pericyte; Stem Cells; Regeneration
