Bursac Nenad
J Clin Invest. 2014 Jul;124(7):2850-3. doi: 10.1172/JCI76628. Epub 2014 Jun 17.
Cardiac fibroblasts have been long recognized as active participants in heart disease; however, their exact physiological and pathological roles remain elusive, mainly due to the lack of specific markers. In this issue of the JCI, Moore-Morris and colleagues used a fibroblast-specific collagen1a1-GFP reporter to demonstrate that fibroblast accumulation after aortic banding in murine hearts arises almost exclusively from proliferation of resident fibroblasts originating from both the epicardium and a previously unrecognized source, the endocardium. Further characterization of fibroblast origin and function in different types and stages of heart disease could lead to development of improved fibroblast-targeted cardiac therapies.
心脏成纤维细胞长期以来一直被认为是心脏病的积极参与者；然而，它们的确切生理和病理作用仍然难以捉摸，主要是由于缺乏特异性标志物。在本期《临床研究杂志》中，摩尔 - 莫里斯及其同事使用了一种成纤维细胞特异性的胶原蛋白1a1 - 绿色荧光蛋白报告基因，以证明在小鼠心脏主动脉缩窄后成纤维细胞的积累几乎完全源于源自心外膜和一个先前未被认识的来源——心内膜的驻留成纤维细胞的增殖。进一步表征心脏病不同类型和阶段中成纤维细胞的起源和功能，可能会促成改进的以成纤维细胞为靶点的心脏治疗方法的开发。
