Cardiac fibroblasts and myofibroblasts assemble and maintain extracellular matrix during normal development and following injury. Culture expansion of these cells yield a bioengineered matrix that could lead to intriguing therapeutic opportunities. For example, we reported that cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts form a matrix that can be used to delivery therapeutic stem cells. Furthermore, we reported that matrix derived from cultured human cardiac fibroblasts/myofibroblasts converted monocytes into macrophages that express interesting anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic properties. Expanding these matrix investigations require characterization of the source cells for quality control. In these efforts, we observed and herein report that Sushi Containing Domain 2 (SUSD2) is a novel and consistent marker for cultured human cardiac fibroblast and myofibroblasts.

在正常发育过程中和受伤后，心脏成纤维细胞和肌成纤维细胞会组装并维持细胞外基质。这些细胞的培养扩增产生了一种生物工程化的基质，可导致有趣的治疗机会。例如，我们报道培养的大鼠心脏成纤维细胞形成可用于递送治疗性干细胞的基质。此外，我们报道了源自培养的人心脏成纤维细胞/成肌纤维细胞的基质将单核细胞转化为表达有趣的抗炎和促血管生成特性的巨噬细胞。扩展这些矩阵研究需要表征源细胞以进行质量控制。在这些努力中，