Transient and stable transfections of mouse myoblasts with genes coding for pro-angiogenic factors

Cardiomyocyte loss in the ischaemic heart can be the reason of many complications, eventually being even the cause of patient's death. Despite many promises, cell therapy with the use of skeletal muscle stem cells (SMSC) still remains to be modified and improved. Combined cell and gene therapy seems to be a promising strategy to heal damaged myocardium. In the present study we have investigated the influence of a simultaneous overexpression of two potent pro-angiogenic genes encoding the fibroblast growth factor-4 (FGF-4) and the vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) on a myogenic murine C2C12 cell line. We have demonstrated in in vitro conditions that myoblasts which overexpressed these factors exhibited significant changes in the cell cycle and pro-angiogenic potential with only slight differences in the expression of the myogenic genes. There was not observed the influence of transient or stable overexpression of FGF-4 and VEGF on cell apoptosis/necrosis in standard or oxidative stress conditions comparing to non transfected controls. Overall, our results suggest that the possible transplantation of myoblasts overexpressing pro-angiogenic factors may potentially improve the functionality of the injured myocardium although the definite proof must originate from in situ conducted pre-clinical studies.