Identification and characterization of novel myeloid cells that infiltrate into post-infarct myocardium

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21575
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 52:General internal medicine and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Fujio Yasushi 大阪大学, 薬学研究科, 教授 (20359839)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 尾花 理徳 大阪大学, 薬学研究科, 准教授 (50745883)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 心筋炎症 / 心筋梗塞 / 心筋リモデリング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Myocardial infarction results in the infiltration of myeloid cells into the heart, which modulates post-infarct inflammation of myocardium. So far, neutrophils and monocytes / macrophages have been believed to play important roles in this process; however, recently, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that myeloid cells are composed of wider ranges of cell populations than expected.
In this project, we performed the single cell RNA seq analysis using myeloid cells that infiltrated into post-infarct myocardium and identified a cell cluster that is different from the cluster of neutrophils or from that of monocytes / macrophages. Next, we prepared this cell population to examine gene expression profile by RNA seq assay and found that this cluster is a novel cell population.

Free Research Field

分子循環器学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

社会の高齢化に伴い循環器疾患が増加し、その結果、心不全が急増している。心不全の中でも心筋梗塞後に発症する心不全は、薬物治療に抵抗性を示すため、その発症予防は喫緊の課題である。梗塞後心不全の発症には、心筋組織に浸潤する骨髄由来細胞が重要な役割を演じていることが知られているが、それらの細胞の多様性ゆえに、詳細なメカニズムの理解には至っていない。本研究では、従来報告されていなかった新たな細胞集団が梗塞後心筋組織に浸潤することを見出し、その機能解明を行っている。この細胞集団の機能制御を戦略とする、新規心不全治療法の開発につながることが期待される。