Knockout of the Cardiac Transcription Factor NKX2-5 Results in Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Cells with Typical Purkinje Cell-like Signal Transduction and Extracellular Matrix Formation

The human heart controls blood flow, and therewith enables the adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the body. The correct function of the heart is coordinated by the interplay of different cardiac cell types. Thereby, one can distinguish between cells of the working myocardium, the pace-making...

Verfasser: Disse, Paul
Aymanns, Isabel
Mücher, Lena
Sandmann, Sarah
Varghese, Julian
Ritter, Nadine
Strutz-Seebohm, Nathalie
Seebohm, Guiscard Friedrich Aldous
Peischard, Stefan
Dokumenttypen:Artikel
Medientypen:Text
Erscheinungsdatum:2023
Publikation in MIAMI:20.09.2023
Datum der letzten Änderung:09.02.2024
Angaben zur Ausgabe:[Electronic ed.]
Quelle:International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24 (2023) 17, 13366, 1-17
Schlagwörter:hiPSC; cardiac conduction system; NKX2-5; connexin; collagen; CrispR-Cas9
Fachgebiet (DDC):610: Medizin und Gesundheit
Lizenz:CC BY 4.0
Sprache:English
Förderung:Finanziert durch den Open-Access-Publikationsfonds der Universität Münster.
Format:PDF-Dokument
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-79908699386
Weitere Identifikatoren:DOI: 10.17879/79908703289
Permalink:https://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-79908699386
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Onlinezugriff:10.3390_ijms241713366.pdf

The human heart controls blood flow, and therewith enables the adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the body. The correct function of the heart is coordinated by the interplay of different cardiac cell types. Thereby, one can distinguish between cells of the working myocardium, the pace-making cells in the sinoatrial node (SAN) and the conduction system cells in the AV-node, the His-bundle or the Purkinje fibres. Tissue-engineering approaches aim to generate hiPSC-derived cardiac tissues for disease modelling and therapeutic usage with a significant improvement in the differentiation quality of myocardium and pace-making cells. The differentiation of cells with cardiac conduction system properties is still challenging, and the produced cell mass and quality is poor. Here, we describe the generation of cardiac cells with properties of the cardiac conduction system, called conduction system-like cells (CSLC). As a primary approach, we introduced a CrispR-Cas9-directed knockout of the NKX2-5 gene in hiPSC. NKX2-5-deficient hiPSC showed altered connexin expression patterns characteristic for the cardiac conduction system with strong connexin 40 and connexin 43 expression and suppressed connexin 45 expression. Application of differentiation protocols for ventricular- or SAN-like cells could not reverse this connexin expression pattern, indicating a stable regulation by NKX2-5 on connexin expression. The contraction behaviour of the hiPSC-derived CSLCs was compared to hiPSC-derived ventricular- and SAN-like cells. We found that the contraction speed of CSLCs resembled the expected contraction rate of human conduction system cells. Overall contraction was reduced in differentiated cells derived from NKX2-5 knockout hiPSC. Comparative transcriptomic data suggest a specification of the cardiac subtype of CSLC that is distinctly different from ventricular or pacemaker-like cells with reduced myocardial gene expression and enhanced extracellular matrix formation for improved electrical insulation. In summary, knockout of NKX2-5 in hiPSC leads to enhanced differentiation of cells with cardiac conduction system features, including connexin expression and contraction behaviour.