The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Feb 2017
In situ reprogramming to transdifferentiate fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes using adenoviral vectors: Implications for clinical myocardial regeneration.
The reprogramming of cardiac fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocyte-like cells improves ventricular function in myocardial infarction models. Only integrating persistent expression vectors have thus far been used to induce reprogramming, potentially limiting its clinical applicability. We therefore tested the reprogramming potential of nonintegrating, acute expression adenoviral (Ad) vectors. ⋯ Ad vectors are at least as effective as lentiviral vectors in inducing cardiac fibroblast transdifferentiation into induced cardiomyocyte-like cells and improving cardiac function in postinfarct rat hearts. Short-term expression Ad vectors may represent an important means to induce cardiac cellular reprogramming in humans.