Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important role in accelerating endothelial repair after vascular injury. The proliferation and migration of EPCs is a critical first step in restoring endothelial. However, mechanisms for modulating EPC proliferation and migration are still being elucidated. Our previous study found that transient receptor potential canonical-1 (TRPC1) is involved in regulating store-operated Ca 2 + entry in EPCs through stromal interaction molecule 1. Therefore, in the present study, we sought to further investigate the regulation of proliferation and migration of EPCs by TRPC1. We found that the silencing of TRPC1 by 2 different RNA interference methods suppressed the proliferation and migration of EPCs. In addition, knockdown of TRPC1 significantly reduced of the amplitude of store-operated Ca 2 + entry and caused arrest of the EPC cell cycle in G1 phase. Analysis of the expression of 84 cell cycle genes by microarray showed that 9 genes were upregulated and 4 were downregulated by > 2-fold in EPCs following TRPC1 silencing. The genes with expression changes were Ak1, Brca2, Camk2b, p21, Ddit3, Inha, Slfn1, Mdm2, Prm1, Bcl2, Mki67, Pmp22, and Ppp2r3a. Finally, we found that a Schlafen 1-blocking peptide partially reversed the abnormal cell cycle distribution and proliferation induced by TRPC1 knockdown, suggesting that Schlafen 1 is downstream of TRPC1 silencing in regulating EPC proliferation. In summary, these findings provide a new mechanism for modulating the biological properties of EPCs and suggest that TRPC1 may be a new target for inducing vascular repair by EPCs.

Cardiac stem cells (CSCs) can home to the infarcted area and regenerate myocardium. Stromal cell-derived factor-1α/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (SDF-1α/CXCR4) axis is pivotal in inducing CSCs migration. However, the mechanisms remain unclear. This study set out to detect if SDF-1α promotes migration and engraftment of CSCs through the CXCR4/PI3K (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase) pathway. In the in vitro experiment, c-kit+ cells were isolated from neonatal mouse heart fragment culture by magnetic cell sorting. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting results demonstrated that a few c-kit+ cells expressed CD45 (4.54%) and Sca-1 (2.58%), the hematopoietic stem cell marker. Conditioned culture could induce c-kit+ cells multipotent differentiation, which was confirmed by cardiac troponin I (cTn-I), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and von Willebrand factor (vWF) staining. In vitro chemotaxis assays were performed using Transwell cell chambers to detect CSCs migration. The results showed that the cardiomyocytes infected with rAAV1-SDF-1α-eGFP significantly increased SDF-1α concentration, 5-fold more in supernatant than that in the control group, and subsequently attracted more CSCs migration. This effect was diminished by administration of AMD3100 (10 µg/ml, CXCR4 antagonist) or LY294002 (20 µmol/L, PI3K inhibitor). In myocardial infarction mice, overexpression of SDF-1α in the infarcted area by rAAV1-SDF-1α-eGFP infection resulted in more CSCs retention to the infarcted myocardium, a higher percentage of proliferation, and reduced infarcted area which was attenuated by AMD3100 or ly294002 pretreatment. These results indicated that overexpression of SDF-1α enhanced CSCs migration in vitro and engraftment of transplanted CSCs and reduced infarcted size via CXCR4/PI3K pathway.

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