| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Fibroblasts can be directly reprogrammed into cardiomyocyte-like cells (iCMs) by overexpression of cardiac transcription factors, including Gata4, Mef2c, and Tbx5; however, this process is inefficient under serum-based culture conditions. Here, we found that a combination of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 2, FGF10, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), termed FFV, promoted cardiac reprogramming under defined serum-free conditions, increasing spontaneously beating iCMs by 40-fold compared with those under conventional serum-based conditions. Mechanistically, FFV activated multiple cardiac transcriptional regulators and converted partially reprogrammed cells into functional iCMs through the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphoinositol 3-kinase/AKT pathways. Moreover, FFV enabled cardiac reprogramming with only Mef2c and Tbx5 through the induction of cardiac reprogramming factors, including Gata4.
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