A neurotrophic factor receptor GFRA2, a specific surface antigen for cardiac progenitor cells, regulates the process of myocardial compaction

Abstract

A surface marker specific for cardiac progenitors (CPs) allows the robust isolation of CPs, effectively circumventing the necessity of genetic modification. Recently, we have reported that glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor receptor alpha 2 (Gfra2), which is anchored to the plasma membrane via Glycosylphosphatidylinositol, specifically marks CPs of both the first and second heart fields within the early mouse embryo [1], identified by single-cell expression profiling on mouse embryonic CPs (Fig. 56.1) [2, 3].