Mesenchymal-endothelial transition-derived cells as a potential new regulatory target for cardiac hypertrophy

Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 20;10(1):6652. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-63671-8.

Abstract

The role of Mesenchymal-endothelial transition (MEndoT) in cardiac hypertrophy is unclear. To determine the difference between MEndoT-derived and coronary endothelial cells is essential for understanding the revascularizing strategy in cardiac repair. Using lineage tracing we demonstrated that MEndoT-derived cells exhibit highly heterogeneous which were characterized with highly expression of endothelial markers such as vascular endothelial cadherin(VECAD) and occludin but low expression of Tek receptor tyrosine kinase(Tek), isolectin B4, endothelial nitric oxide synthase(eNOS), von Willebrand factor(vWF), and CD31 after cardiac hypertrophy. RNA-sequencing showed altered expression of fibroblast lineage commitment genes in fibroblasts undergoing MEndoT. Compared with fibroblasts, the expression of p53 and most endothelial lineage commitment genes were upregulated in MEndoT-derived cells; however, the further analysis indicated that MEndoT-derived cells may represent an endothelial-like cell sub-population. Loss and gain function study demonstrated that MEndoT-derived cells are substantial sources of neovascularization, which can be manipulated to attenuate cardiac hypertrophy and preserve cardiac function by improving the expression of endothelial markers in MEndoT-derived cells. Moreover, fibroblasts undergoing MEndoT showed significantly upregulated anti-hypertrophic factors and downregulated pro-hypertrophic factors. Therefore MEndoT-derived cells are an endothelial-like cell population that can be regulated to treat cardiac hypertrophy by improving neovascularization and altering the paracrine effect of fibroblasts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, CD / genetics
  • Antigens, CD / metabolism
  • Cadherins / genetics
  • Cadherins / metabolism
  • Cardiomegaly / genetics*
  • Cardiomegaly / metabolism
  • Cardiomegaly / pathology
  • Cell Lineage / genetics
  • Cell Tracking
  • Cell Transdifferentiation / genetics
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Endothelial Cells / metabolism*
  • Endothelial Cells / pathology
  • Fibroblasts / metabolism*
  • Fibroblasts / pathology
  • Gene Expression Regulation*
  • Genes, Reporter
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Lectins / genetics
  • Lectins / metabolism
  • Luminescent Proteins / genetics
  • Luminescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / pathology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Neovascularization, Physiologic / genetics*
  • Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III / genetics
  • Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III / metabolism
  • Occludin / genetics
  • Occludin / metabolism
  • Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / genetics
  • Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / metabolism
  • Receptor, TIE-2 / genetics
  • Receptor, TIE-2 / metabolism
  • Red Fluorescent Protein
  • Signal Transduction
  • von Willebrand Factor / genetics
  • von Willebrand Factor / metabolism

Substances

  • Antigens, CD
  • Cadherins
  • Lectins
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Occludin
  • Ocln protein, mouse
  • Pecam1 protein, mouse
  • Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1
  • cadherin 5
  • von Willebrand Factor
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III
  • Nos3 protein, mouse
  • Receptor, TIE-2
  • Tek protein, mouse