An Unbiased Proteomics Method to Assess the Maturation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes exhibit the properties of fetal cardiomyocytes, which limits their applications. Various methods have been used to promote maturation of hPSC-cardiomyocytes; however, there is a lack of an unbiased and comprehensive method for accurate assessment of the maturity of hPSC-cardiomyocytes.

We aim to develop an unbiased proteomics strategy integrating high-throughput top-down targeted proteomics and bottom-up global proteomics for the accurate and comprehensive assessment of hPSC-cardiomyocyte maturation.

Utilizing hPSC-cardiomyocytes from early- and late-stage 2-dimensional monolayer culture and 3-dimensional engineered cardiac tissue, we demonstrated the high reproducibility and reliability of a top-down proteomics method, which enabled simultaneous quantification of contractile protein isoform expression and associated post-translational modifications. This method allowed for the detection of known maturation-associated contractile protein alterations and, for the first time, identified contractile protein post-translational modifications as promising new markers of hPSC-cardiomyocytes maturation. Most notably, decreased phosphorylation of α-tropomyosin was found to be associated with hPSC-cardiomyocyte maturation. By employing a bottom-up global proteomics strategy, we identified candidate maturation-associated markers important for sarcomere organization, cardiac excitability, and Ca²⁺ homeostasis. In particular, upregulation of myomesin 1 and transmembrane 65 was associated with hPSC-cardiomyocyte maturation and validated in cardiac development, making these promising markers for assessing maturity of hPSC-cardiomyocytes. We have further validated α-actinin isoforms, phospholamban, dystrophin, αB-crystallin, and calsequestrin 2 as novel maturation-associated markers, in the developing mouse cardiac ventricles.

We established an unbiased proteomics method that can provide accurate and specific assessment of the maturity of hPSC-cardiomyocytes and identified new markers of maturation. Furthermore, this integrated proteomics strategy laid a strong foundation for uncovering the molecular pathways involved in cardiac development and disease using hPSC-cardiomyocytes.