1. Academic Validation
  2. Injury-induced Clusterin+ cardiomyocytes suppress inflammation and promote regeneration in neonatal and adult hearts by reprogramming macrophages

Injury-induced Clusterin+ cardiomyocytes suppress inflammation and promote regeneration in neonatal and adult hearts by reprogramming macrophages

  • Cell Stem Cell. 2025 Dec 4;32(12):1849-1868.e15. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.10.008.
Lei Fan 1 Qi Tang 1 Yutong Wang 1 Hang Sun 2 Ge Li 3 Yi Yang 1 Huiying Zhu 1 Zhaoyuan Liu 4 He Wang 5 Hongyan Wang 6 Qing Jing 7 Christopher L Antos 8 Hui Xiao 9 Renchu Guan 2 Gang Pei 10 Florent Ginhoux 11 Zhigang Zhou 12 An Zeng 13
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Key Laboratory of Multi-Cell Systems, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Symbolic Computation and Knowledge Engineering of the Ministry of Education, College of Computer Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China.
  • 3 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China; Peking University-Tsinghua University-National Institute of Biological Sciences Joint Graduate Program, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
  • 4 Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China.
  • 5 Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China; Department of Radiology, Shanghai Fourth People's Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200083, China.
  • 6 State Key Laboratory of RNA Innovation, Science and Engineering, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
  • 7 Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Innovation Center for Intervention of Chronic Disease and Promotion of Health, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
  • 8 School of Life Sciences and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China.
  • 9 National Key Laboratory of Immune Response and Immunotherapy, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
  • 10 Key Laboratory of Multi-Cell Systems, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Signaling and Disease Research, Laboratory of Receptor-based Biomedicine, The Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200070, China; Institute for Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
  • 11 Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China; Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A(∗)STAR), Singapore 138634, Singapore.
  • 12 Department of Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201620, China. Electronic address: zhou_zhigang1980@163.com.
  • 13 Key Laboratory of Multi-Cell Systems, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: azeng@sibcb.ac.cn.
Abstract

Adult hearts scar after injury, while neonatal hearts regenerate. The mechanisms underlying this dichotomy remain unclear. Through comparative spatiotemporal single-cell analyses and dual recombinase-mediated lineage tracing, we uncovered an injury-induced Clusterin+ cardiomyocyte (Clu+ CM) population that coordinates reparative, anti-inflammatory macrophage activity. Following injury, Clu+ CMs emerge in the border zone of regenerative hearts but are scarce in non-regenerative contexts. These CMs secrete CLU, which binds to macrophage Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4), attenuating inflammation and promoting reparative polarization through Cpt1a-dependent fatty acid oxidation. These macrophages secrete Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 (BMP2), activating bone morphogenetic protein receptor, type 1A (BMPR1A) signaling in CMs to drive proliferation. Reduced CLU levels in myocardial infarction patients correlate with impaired cardiac function, whereas Clu overexpression or transplantation of engineered CLU+ human cardiac organoids recapitulates this regenerative modulation, enhancing myocardial repair in adult mice. Our findings reveal a critical cardio-immune mechanism whereby Clu+ CMs reprogram macrophages to resolve inflammation and stimulate CM proliferation, providing potential strategies for cardiac regeneration.

Keywords

Clusterin; TLR4–BMP2 axis; cardio-immune crosstalk; cardiomyocyte proliferation; heart regeneration; human cardiac organoids; inflammation; macrophage polarization; myocardial repair; transplantation.

Figures
Products
Inhibitors & Agonists
Other Products