Generation of expandable cardiovascular progenitor cells from mouse and human fibroblasts via direct chemical reprogramming.

Here, we present a protocol to reprogram mouse and human fibroblasts into expandable cardiovascular progenitor cells (CPCs) via a defined small-molecule treatment. We describe steps to prepare fibroblasts and generate the chemically induced CPCs (ciCPCs), followed by expansion and differentiation of the ciCPCs. These cells can self-renew in the long term, faithfully retaining the CPC phenotype and cardiovascular differentiation capacity. This protocol provides an autologous and expandable cardiovascular cell source, which may find uses in cardiovascular disease modelling, drug discovery, and cardiac cell therapy. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Wang et al. (2022).1.