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Suicide Gene Reveals the Myocardial Neovascularization Role of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Overexpressing CXCR4 (MSCCXCR4)

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posted on 2013-12-03, 00:00 authored by Jialiang Liang, Wei Huang, Xiyong Yu, Atif Ashraf, Kishore K. Wary, Meifeng Xu, Ronald W. Millard, Muhammad Ashraf, Yigang Wang
Background: Our previous studies indicated that MSCCXCR4 improved cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI). This study was aimed to investigate the specific role of MSCCXCR4 in neovascularization of infarcted myocardium using a suicide gene approach. Methods: MSCs were transduced with either lentivirus-null vector/GFP (MSCNull as control) or vector encoding for overexpressing CXCR4/GFP. The MSC derived-endothelial cell (EC) differentiation was assessed by a tube formation assay, Dil-ac-LDL uptake, EC marker expression, and VE-cadherin promoter activity assay. Gene expression was analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR or Western blot. The suicide gene approach was under the control of VE-cadherin promoter. In vivo studies: Cell patches containing MSCNull or MSCCXCR4 were transduced with suicide gene and implanted into the myocardium of MI rat. Rats received either ganciclovir (GCV) or vehicle after cell implantation. After one month, the cardiac functional changes and neovascularization were assessed by echocardiography, histological analysis, and micro-CT imaging. Results: The expression of VEGF-A and HIF-1 alpha was significantly higher in MSCCXCR4 as compared to MSCNull under hypoxia. Additionally, MSCCXCR4 enhanced new vessel formation and EC differentiation, as well as STAT3 phosphorylation under hypoxia. STAT3 participated in the transcription of VE-cadherin in MSCCXCR4 under hypoxia, which was inhibited by WP1066 (a STAT3 inhibitor). In addition, GCV specifically induced death of ECs with suicide gene activation. In vivo studies: MSCCXCR4 implantation promoted cardiac functional restoration, reduced infarct size, improved cardiac remodeling, and enhanced neovascularization in ischemic heart tissue. New vessels derived from MSCCXCR4 were observed at the injured heart margins and communicated with native coronary arteries. However, the derived vessel networks were reduced by GCV, reversing improvement of cardiac function. Conclusion: The transplanted MSCCXCR4 enhanced neovascularization after MI by boosting release of angiogenic factors and increasing the potential of endothelial differentiation.

Funding

This work was funded by National Institutes of Health grants HL081859, HL089824, and HL110740 (to YW); HL-080686 and R37HL-074272 (to AA).

History

Publisher Statement

© 2012 Liang et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The original version is available through Public Library of Science at DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0046158

Publisher

Public Library of Science

Language

  • en_US

issn

1932-6203

Issue date

2012-09-01

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