Neuregulin-1 promotes cardiomyocyte differentiation of genetically engineered embryonic stem cell clones

• Published in: BMB reports Vol. 41; no. 10; pp. 699 - 704
• Main Authors: Wang, Zhi, Xu, Guotong, Wu, Yalan, Liu, Shaowen, Sun, Baogui, Dai, Qiuyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 생화학분자생물학회 31.10.2008
• Subjects: Cardiomyocytes; Embryonic stem cells; Enhanced green fluorescent protein; Neuregulin-1; Neuregulin-1; Cardiomyocytes; Embryonic stem cells; Enhanced green fluorescent protein
• ISSN: 1976-6696; 1976-670X

Embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived cardiomyocytes (ESCMs) must be specifically purified in order to prevent teratoma formation, and this confusing issue has hampered their clinical application. We therefore investigated a technique to generate pure labeled ESCMs for possible use in cardiac repair. We generated transgenic ES cell lines expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under the transcriptional control of the $\alpha$-cardiac myosin heavy chain ($\alpha$-MHC) promoter. Differentiated EGFP-positive ES cells displayed characteristics of CMs. Furthermore, neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) upregulated the expression of the cardiac-restricted transcription factors Nkx2.5 and GATA-4, as well as differentiated CM factors ($\alpha$-MHC, $\beta$-MHC). Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that NRG-1 increased expression of cardiac-specific troponin T in the beating foci of the embryoid bodies. This work revealed a potential method for specifically labeling and enriching ESCMs by combining genetically-engineered ES cell clones and exogenous growth factor treatment.