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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2008;300(9):1016.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A previously unrecognized group of stem cells can give rise to cardiomyocytes (Zhou B et al. Nature. 2008;454[7200]:109-113). These stem cells, located in the epicardium at the surface of the heart, might have potential for cardiac regeneration and repair.

Scientists at Children's Hospital Boston found that heart muscle cells can be derived from a cardiac progenitor identifiable via its expression of Wt1, a gene that encodes a protein that controls expression of other genes.

Epicardial stem cells tagged with a red protein differentiate into cardiomyocytes. Only the descendent cardiomyocytes carry the marker. (Photo credit: Bin Zhou, MD/Children's Hospital Boston)

Although studies had revealed that epicardial cells can give rise to smooth muscle and endothelial cells during coronary vessel formation, no one had thought that the cells might also become cardiomyocytes. The cells marked by Wt1 expression not only differentiated into cardiomyocytes, but also into smooth . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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