Genetic lineage tracing defines myofibroblast origin and function in the injured heart

Cardiac fibroblasts convert to myofibroblasts with injury to mediate healing after acute myocardial infarction (MI) and to mediate long-standing fibrosis with chronic disease. Myofibroblasts remain a poorly defined cell type in terms of their origins and functional effects in vivo. Here we generate Postn (periostin) gene-targeted mice containing a tamoxifen-inducible Cre for cellular lineage-tracing analysis. This Postn allele identifies essentially all myofibroblasts within the heart and multiple other tissues. Lineage tracing with four additional Cre-expressing mouse lines shows that periostin-expressing myofibroblasts in the heart derive from tissue-resident fibroblasts of the Tcf21 lineage, but not…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• AH
  American Heart Association

  Award: 15POST25480009
• CC
  Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: DK90971, DK78392, AR-47363, HL100401, HL074257
• NH
  National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

  Awards: HL100401, HL074257, F31HL126512