Hassan Amini
1,2, Jafar Rezaie
1, Armin Vosoughi
3, Reza Rahbarghazi
1,4*, Mohammad Nouri
1*1 Stem Cell Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3 Neurosciences Research Center (NSRC), Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
4 Department of Applied Cell Sciences, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Stem cells (SCs) have special potency to differentiate into different types of cells, especially cardiomyocytes. In order to demonstrate the therapeutic applications of these cells, various investigations are recently being developed. Cardiac progenitor cells are endogenous cardiac SCs that found to express tyrosine kinase receptors, c-Kit and other stemness features in adult heart, contributing to the regeneration of cardiac tissue after injury. This lineage is able to efficiently trans-differentiate into different cell types such as cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells. Noticeably, several cardiac progenitor cells have been identified until yet. The therapeutic applications of cardiac SCs have been studied previously, which could introduce a novel therapeutic approach in the treatment of cardiac disorders. The current review enlightens the potency of cardiac progenitor cells features and differentiation capacity, with current applications in cardiovascular field.