Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41457983›Full record

ArticleCirculation2026

Engineered Regulatory T Lymphocytes Promote Infarcted Heart Repair.

Min Zhang, Yongying Qin, Ting Zhou, Meilin Liu, Tingting Tang, Ni Xia, Shaofang Nie, Bingjie Lv, Zhengfeng Zhu, Jiao Jiao and 9 more

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Circulation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. In Vivo T-Cell Engineering: Revolution in Delivery Strategies and Clinical Translation.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

19 authors.

Min Zhang *Department of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).
Yongying Qin *Department of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).ORCID 0009-0000-8255-619X
Ting ZhouDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).ORCID 0009-0003-9340-1312
Meilin LiuDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).
Tingting TangDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).ORCID 0000-0001-5667-6737
Ni XiaDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).
Shaofang NieDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).ORCID 0000-0001-7878-2979
Bingjie LvDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).
Zhengfeng ZhuDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).
Jiao JiaoDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).
Muyang GuDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).
Jingyong LiDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).ORCID 0000-0003-0228-7028
Chen ChenDivision of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (C.C.).ORCID 0000-0001-5080-9383
Desheng HuDepartment of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (D.S.H.).ORCID 0000-0002-9608-0310
Weimin WangDepartment of Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (W.M.W.).ORCID 0000-0002-1085-3766
Li ZhangDepartment of Ultrasound, Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Hubei Province, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (L.Z.).ORCID 0000-0003-1620-1512
Chaolong WangDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (C.L.W.), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.ORCID 0000-0003-3945-1012
Zhilei ShanDepartment of Nutrition and Food Hygiene (Z.L.S.), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.ORCID 0000-0002-6723-3381
Xiang ChengDepartment of Cardiology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biological Targeted Therapy, Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center of Immunological Diagnosis and Therapy for Cardiovascular Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (M.Z., Y.Y.Q., T.Z., M.L.L., T.T.T., N.X., S.F.N., B.J.L., Z.F.Z., J.J., M.Y.G., J.Y.L., X.C.).ORCID 0000-0002-6287-3128

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMyocardial infarction (MI) initiates a dysregulated healing process characterized by excessive fibrosis and unresolved inflammation, resulting in suboptimal cardiac repair in clinical settings. Regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) naturally orchestrate cardiac repair after MI, but their therapeutic potential is limited by inefficient homing to ischemic myocardium. We hypothesize that FAP (fibroblast activation protein)-specific CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) engineering overcomes this barrier by enabling precise delivery of Tregs to FAP⁺-enriched infarct zones, thereby focally amplifying reparative activity within injured myocardium.

methodsIn murine MI and ischemia-reperfusion models, C57BL/6J mice were injected with lentivirus-engineered FAP CAR Tregs (FCTRs) or mock Tregs derived from wild-type, IL-10 (interleukin-10) knockout (

resultsIntravenous injections of FCTRs on day 3 after injury led to targeted engraftment in the damaged cardiac tissue. Compared with controls treated with vehicle or mock Tregs, mice receiving FCTRs exhibited remarkable cardiac functional recovery in both MI and ischemia-reperfusion models by day 14, accompanied by reduced fibrosis and decreased inflammation, all achieved without compromising the integrity of cardiac tissue. Absence of IL-10 in the engineered CAR Tregs abrogated their therapeutic efficacy, whereas the ablation of Areg showed no functional impairment. We further demonstrated that the beneficial effects of FCTRs depended on IL-10 production, which inhibited pathogenic myofibroblast differentiation by suppressing Smad2/3-dependent signaling. In addition, IL-10 secretion by these engineered Tregs promoted the polarization of inflammatory monocytes into reparative M2 macrophages and resolved excessive inflammatory responses. No treatment-related adverse effects were observed.

conclusionsWe pioneered FAP-targeted CAR Tregs as a dual-action precision therapy resolving post-MI fibrosis and inflammation through IL-10-dependent mechanisms. By spatiotemporally suppressing myofibroblast differentiation and remodeling immune niches, this strategy prevents maladaptive remodeling while accelerating functional recovery, establishing a translational platform for fibrotic diseases across organ systems.

Indexed as

Myocardial InfarctionT-Lymphocytes, RegulatoryAnimalsDisease Models, AnimalEndopeptidasesInterleukin-10MaleMembrane ProteinsMiceMice, Inbred C57BLMice, KnockoutReceptors, Chimeric AntigenEndopeptidasesIL10 protein, mouseInterleukin-10Membrane ProteinsReceptors, Chimeric Antigeninterleukin-10myocardial infarctionreceptors, chimeric antigenT-lymphocytes, regulatory

Identifiers

PMID41457983

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.