The role of platelet derived growth factor in endomyocardial biopsies shortly after heart transplantation in relation to postoperative course

Abstract

One week after HTx the peritransplant injury predominantly influences the endothelial expression of PDGF ligand and receptor. In the first postoperative week, expression of PDGF could be detected. The persistence of evaluated PDGF expression might be of prognostic value in terms of a risk for either infection or rejection. These patients should be carefully monitored.

Progenitor Cells Identified by PDGFR-Alpha Expression in the Developing and Diseased Human Heart

“…PDGF-A, PDGF-B, and PDGF-C are known to activate PDGFRa. Studies investigating the PDGF ligands show that the expression pattern of PDGF after heart transplant is mainly confined to the vasculature [34,36,37]. Our findings in the diseased adult heart, where inflammatory signals are high, support these previous studies, although we found that cardiomyocyte expression of PDGFRa was rare.…”

“…The literature on PDGFRa expression in the adult human heart is largely limited to the analysis of adult cardiac allograft biopsies [34][35][36]. Here PDGFRa expression has been reported in smooth muscle, endothelial cells, interstitial cells, and cardiomyocytes, although detailed confocal microscopy is lacking.…”

Growth factor therapy for cardiac repair: an overview of recent advances and future directions

“…In the diseased adult human heart, Chong et al identified a population of PDGF receptor-α-expressing progenitors that predominantly differentiated into endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells with minimal contribution to the cardiomyocyte pool (Chong et al 2013). This finding, along with the expression of PDGF following heart transplant (Sack et al 2004;Koch et al 2006), supports a potential angiogenic role for PDGF in cardiac repair, which has directed subsequent research.…”