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CD117-positive cells of the heart: progenitor cells or mast cells?

Yan Zhou1, Peng Pan, Lu Yao

  • 1Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.

The Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry : Official Journal of the Histochemistry Society
|December 23, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Most CD117-positive cells in the human heart are mast cells, not cardiac stem cells. This finding challenges the use of CD117 as a reliable marker for cardiac progenitor cells in heart repair research.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Biology
  • Stem Cell Research
  • Immunology

Background:

  • Human cardiac stem/progenitor cells are crucial for heart injury repair.
  • CD117 is commonly used to identify cardiac stem/progenitor cells.
  • Cardiac mast cells also express CD117, potentially confounding cell identification.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between CD117-positive cells and mast cells in the human heart.
  • To determine if CD117 is a reliable marker for cardiac progenitor cells.
  • To clarify the identity of CD117-positive cells in cardiac tissue.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of human left ventricle samples (n=5 patients, ages 1 week-75 years).
  • Immunohistochemical staining for CD117, tryptase, toluidine blue, thionine, and CD45.
  • Quantification of CD117-positive cells and their co-localization with mast cell markers.

Main Results:

  • 85-100% of CD117-positive cells in the human heart were identified as mast cells.
  • Mast cells exhibited weak to moderate CD45 immunostaining.
  • CD117-positive/CD45-dim/moderate cells previously identified as putative cardiac progenitors are likely mast cells.

Conclusions:

  • The majority of CD117-positive cells in the human heart are mast cells.
  • CD117 is not a specific marker for cardiac progenitor cells.
  • This finding has significant implications for stem cell research in cardiac repair.

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