Real Cells, Uncertain Identities: Progenitor and Stem-Cell Identity in Cardiac Surgery Research A Scoping Review Protocol
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This project is a scoping review mapping how progenitor and stem-cell populations have actually been studied in cardiac surgery research, across three distinct literatures: cells measured as prognostic biomarkers of vascular-repair capacity, cells administered as a therapy, and cells characterised molecularly. All three literatures share an untested assumption — that the cells carrying a given progenitor label are the regenerative progenitors the label names. The clearest example is "EPC," historically an umbrella term covering at least two distinct cell lineages with very different biology, one of which is not truly endothelial at all by current consensus nomenclature. The same label-versus-lineage gap recurs in the cardiac-resident progenitor and skeletal-myoblast literatures. Rather than pooling outcomes across studies, this review charts what cell populations were actually studied under each label, using immunophenotyping, culture/colony assays, potency assays, and lineage-tracing methods where reported, and classifies each study as concordant, discordant, or indeterminate against current lineage/nomenclature standards. It then maps how reported findings — associations, therapeutic effects, molecular results — distribute across that concordance classification, without making causal claims. Expected outputs: a label-to-identity concordance matrix spanning the prognostic, therapeutic, and molecular literatures; a descriptive map of how reported outcomes relate to identity concordance; and a narrative account of definitional and methodological gaps to inform future research and reporting standards. No existing review applies a single current-standards identity lens across all three literatures simultaneously.
Authors: Omar Farooq, Mustafa Zakkar
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204678602