Cardiac Progenitor Cell Cycling Stimulated by Pim-1 Kinase

Rationale: Cardioprotective effects of Pim-1 kinase have been previously reported but the underlying mechanistic basis may involve a combination of cellular and molecular mechanisms that remain unresolved. The elucidation of the mechanistic basis for Pim-1 mediated cardioprotection provides important insights for designing therapeutic interventional strategies to treat heart disease. Objective: Effects of cardiac-specific Pim-1 kinase expression on the cardiac progenitor cell (CPC) population were examined to determine whether Pim-1 mediates beneficial effects through augmenting CPC activity. Methods and Results: Transgenic mice created with cardiac-specific Pim-1 overexpression (Pim-wt) exhibit enhanced Pim-1 expression in both cardiomyocytes and CPCs, both of which show increased proliferative activity assessed using 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), Ki-67, and c-Myc relative to nontransgenic controls. However, the total number of CPCs was not increased in the Pim-wt hearts during normal postnatal growth or a...