Cardioprotective molecules are enriched in beating cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells

Background: Cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESC-CMs) have attracted attention because of their cardiac regenerative potential in vivo. Differentiated CMs can be distinguished into two different phenotypic populations: beating and non-beating CMs. A thorough understanding of the different molecular conditions of beating and non-beating CMs would provide valuable information for other potential applications and cell therapy. Methods: In this study, we generated a comparative protein profiles using proteomic analysis and western blotting, to compare the specific protein expression patterns of beating and non-beating hESC-CMs. Results: Abundantly 72 upregulated proteins are involved in different biological processes such as stimulus response, cellular catabolism and cell motility. Among these proteins, such as HSPs and other antioxidant molecules, are known to be proteins that potentially play an important role in cardioprotection through the enhancement of cell survival in hypoxic and ischemic conditions present in the injured heart. Conclusion: As a first step toward understanding the different molecular conditions of beating and non-beating hESC-CMs, we sought to study their differential expression patterns and discuss their relevance to in vivo functioning in cardiac injury repair. Thus, the results of this study could provide further evidence supporting a cardiac regenerative approach using an optimized cell source derived from hESCs. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.