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Updated: Feb 17, 2026
In Vitro Generation of Heart Field-specific Cardiac Progenitor Cells
Published on: July 3, 2019
Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor-Alpha Expressing Cardiac Progenitor Cells Can Be Derived from Previously
Thi Y L Le1,2, Hilda A Pickett3, Cristobal G Dos Remedios4
11 Center for Heart Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney , Westmead, Australia .
Insights
Previously cryopreserved human heart tissue can yield cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) for heart failure therapies. This study successfully isolated multipotent CPCs from banked heart samples, supporting tissue banking for future treatments.
Area of Science:
- Regenerative Medicine
- Cardiovascular Biology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) are crucial for heart repair and are typically derived from donor biopsies.
- Access to CPCs for clinical trials is often limited by sample availability and timely procurement.
- Utilizing previously cryopreserved human heart tissue offers a potential solution for consistent CPC sourcing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the feasibility of isolating and expanding cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) from cryopreserved human heart tissue.
- To characterize the phenotype, pluripotency, and multipotent differentiation capacity of CPCs derived from banked samples.
- To assess the impact of donor age on CPC characteristics, including proliferative and self-renewing potential.
Main Methods:
- Isolation of CPCs from cryopreserved human heart samples.
- Flow cytometry and immunofluorescence for cell surface marker analysis (PDGFRα, CD90, CD31, DDR2, Vimentin, CD45).
- Quantitative PCR for pluripotency gene expression (SOX2, NANOG, MYC, KLF4).
- Colony-forming assays, in vitro differentiation assays (smooth muscle, endothelial, cardiomyocyte-like cells), and single-cell assays.
- Telomere length and telomerase activity assessment.
Main Results:
- CPCs were successfully isolated from cryopreserved human heart samples, expressing key fibroblast, mesenchymal, and pluripotency markers while lacking hematopoietic markers.
- Cells derived from younger hearts exhibited superior proliferative and self-renewing capacity compared to those from aged hearts, correlating with telomere length.
- Enriched PDGFRα+/CD90+/CD31- CPCs demonstrated clonogenicity and multipotent differentiation potential into smooth muscle, endothelial, and cardiomyocyte-like lineages.
- Prolonged self-renewing capacity (>2 months) and sustained pluripotency gene expression were observed in single-cell assays.
Conclusions:
- Multipotent cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) can be effectively isolated and expanded from previously cryopreserved human heart tissue.
- Cardiac tissue banking provides a viable strategy for ensuring accessible, high-quality CPCs for future cell-based regenerative therapies for heart failure.
- Donor age influences CPC function, highlighting the importance of sample selection for optimal therapeutic outcomes.
Abstract:
Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) are being developed as a promising treatment for heart failure. Although clinical trials have predominantly used donor cardiac biopsies to derive CPCs, a better solution could be to use previously cryopreserved human heart tissue. This would enable timely and convenient access to healthy and young heart samples for CPC production. However, few studies have attempted to isolate CPCs from previously cryopreserved heart tissue. In this study, we isolated CPCs from eight nondiseased human heart samples previously cryopreserved as part of the Sydney Heart Bank. Resulting cells were strongly positive for known fibroblast (DDR2, Vimentin), mesenchymal/CPC (PDGFRα, CD90) markers, and for pluripotency genes (SOX2, NANOG, MYC, KLF4), whereas being negative for the pan-hematopoietic marker (CD45). Outgrowth cells from aged hearts had decreased proliferative and self-renewing capacity that correlated with shorter telomere lengths compared with cells from young hearts. No telomerase activity was detected in any cells isolated. Colony-forming assays and fluorescence-activated cell sorting were used to enrich PDGFRα+/CD90+/CD31- CPCs. Multipotent potential was confirmed using in vitro differentiation assays with smooth muscle (MYH11+), endothelial cell (vWF+), and cardiomyocyte-like (cTnT+, α-actinin+) cell formation. Single cell assays demonstrated clonogenicity of PDGFRα+ CPCs with maintenance of prolonged self-renewing capacity (>2 months), and pluripotency gene expression at both early and late culture passages. Our results demonstrate that multipotent PDGFRα+ CPCs can be harvested and expanded from previously banked cryopreserved human heart samples. These data support cardiac tissue banking as a strategy for improved access to CPCs for future clinical therapies.
