Characteristics of pericardial interstitial cells and their implications in pericardial fibrocalcification

► Myofibroblasts/osteoblasts transdifferentiation correlated positively with PF in situ. ► PICs display a marked phenotypic plasticity under appropriate microenvironment. ► PICs spontaneously transdifferentiate into myofibroblasts/osteoblasts when grown in vitro. ► PICs exhibit a more limited self-renewal capacity and undergo earlier senescence than MSCs. ► Oct4 and Klf4 are important self-renewal-related genes of PICs.