Transcriptome analysis of cardiac progenitors to identify small RNAs that induce transdifferentiation

在哺乳动物心脏中，心肌细胞是终末分化的，其再生能力有限。最近的研究表明，转录因子的组合可以直接将成纤维细胞重编程为心肌细胞样细胞，尽管效率很低。另一方面，microRNAs (miRNAs)，一个小rna家族，也被证明通过调节基因表达来改变细胞命运。在这里，我们通过小鼠ES细胞来源细胞的转录组分析，鉴定了在心脏祖细胞中表达的mirna。我们还发现，这些mirna的组合可以在心脏成纤维细胞中诱导心肌细胞特异性基因。这些发现可能会改善再生心脏治疗的直接重编程方法。

In mammalian heart, cardiac muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) are terminally differentiated and their regenerative capacity is limited. Recent studies have demonstrated that a combination of transcription factors could reprogram fibroblast directly to cardiomyocyte-like cells, albeit at a low efficiency. On the other hand, microRNAs (miRNAs), a family of small RNAs, have also been shown to convert cell fate by regulating gene expression. Here, we identified miRNAs that were expressed in cardiac progenitor cells, by transcriptome analysis of murine ES cell-derived cells. We also found that a combination of these miRNAs could induce myocyte-specific genes in cardiac fibroblasts. These findings may improve direct reprogramming methods towards regenerative cardiac therapy.