Neonatal Heart-Enriched miR-708 Promotes Differentiation of Cardiac Progenitor Cells in Rats

Cardiovascular disease is becoming the leading cause of death throughout the world. However, adult hearts have limited potential for regeneration after pathological injury, partly due to the quiescent status of stem/progenitor cells. Reactivation of cardiac stem/progenitor cells to create more myocyte progeny is one of the key steps in the regeneration of a damaged heart. In this study, miR-708 was identified to be enriched in the neonatal cardiomyocytes of rats, but this has not yet been proven in adult humans. A lower level of miR-708 in c-kit(+) stem/progenitor cells was detected compared to non-progenitors. Overexpression of miR-708 induced cardiomyocyte differentiation of cardiac stem/progenitor cells. This finding strengthened the potential of applying miRNAs in the regeneration of injured hearts, and this indicates that miR-708 could be a novel candidate for treatment of heart diseases.