Bmi1-Progenitor Cell Ablation Impairs the Angiogenic Response to Myocardial Infarction

Objective Cardiac progenitor cells reside in the heart in adulthood, although their physiological relevance remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that after myocardial infarction, adult Bmi1(+) (B lymphoma Mo-MLV insertion region 1 homolog [PCGF4]) cardiac cells are a key progenitor-like population in cardiac neovascularization during ventricular remodeling. Approach and Results These cells, which have a strong in vivo differentiation bias, are a mixture of endothelial- and mesenchymal-related cells with in vitro spontaneous endothelial cell differentiation capacity. Genetic lineage tracing analysis showed that heart-resident Bmi1(+) progenitor cells proliferate after acute myocardial infarction and differentiate to generate de novo cardiac vasculature. In a mouse model of induced myocardial infarction, genetic ablation of these cells substantially deteriorated both heart angiogenesis and the ejection fraction, resulting in an ischemic-dilated cardiac phenotype. Conclusions These findings imply that endothelial-related Bmi1(+) progenitor cells are necessary for injury-induced neovascularization in adult mouse heart and highlight these cells as a suitable therapeutic target for preventing dysfunctional left ventricular remodeling after injury.