Repression of SIRT1 Promotes the Differentiation of Mouse Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into Neural Stem Cells

The use of transplanting functional neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has increased for the treatment of brain diseases. As such, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms that promote NSCs differentiation of iPSCs for future NSC-based therapies. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a NAD⁺-dependent protein deacetylase, has attracted significant attention over the past decade due to its prominent role in processes including organ development, longevity, and cancer. However, it remains unclear whether SIRT1 plays a role in the differentiation of mouse iPSCs toward NSCs. In this study, we produced NSCs from mouse iPSCs using serum-free medium supplemented with retinoic acid. We then assessed changes in the expression of SIRT1 and microRNA-34a, which regulates SIRT1 expression. Moreover, we used a SIRT1 inhibitor to investigate the role of SIRT1 in NSCs differentiation of iPSCs. Data revealed that the expression of SIRT1 decreased, whereas miRNAs-34a increased, during this process. In addition, the inhibition of SIRT1 enhanced the generation of NSCs and mature neurocytes. This suggests that SIRT1 negatively regulated the differentiation of mouse iPSCs into NSCs, and that this process may be regulated by miRNA-34a.     

Impaired Neural Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Generated from a Mouse Model of Sandhoff Disease

Sandhoff disease (SD) is a glycosphingolipid storage disease that arises from mutations in the Hexb gene and the resultant deficiency in β-hexosaminidase activity. This deficiency results in aberrant lysosomal accumulation of the ganglioside GM2 and related glycolipids, and progressive deterioration of the central nervous system. Dysfunctional glycolipid storage causes severe neurodegeneration through a poorly understood pathogenic mechanism. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offers new opportunities for both elucidation of the pathogenesis of diseases and the development of stem cell-based therapies. Here, we report the generation of disease-specific iPSCs from a mouse model of SD. These mouse model-derived iPSCs (SD-iPSCs) exhibited pluripotent stem cell properties and significant accumulation of GM2 ganglioside. In lineage-directed differentiation studies using the stromal cell-derived inducing activity method, SD-iPSCs showed an impaired ability to differentiate into early stage neural precursors. Moreover, fewer neurons differentiated from neural precursors in SD-iPSCs than in the case of the wild type. Recovery of the Hexb gene in SD-iPSCs improved this impairment of neuronal differentiation. These results provide new insights as to understanding the complex pathogenic mechanisms of SD.     

Generation of an LncRNA Gtl2-GFP Reporter for Rapid Assessment of Pluripotency in Mouse Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

<正>Epigenetic reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells(i PSCs)by overexpression of defined factors holds great promise for disease modeling and regenerative medicine(Takahashi and Yamanaka,2006;Robinton and Daley,2012).However,the stochastic reprogramming process often results in variable pluripotency levels of i PSC lines as measured by their in vivo developmental potential,     

Mutational History of a Human Cell Lineage from Somatic to Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

The accuracy of replicating the genetic code is fundamental. DNA repair mechanisms protect the fidelity of the genome ensuring a low error rate between generations. This sustains the similarity of individuals whilst providing a repertoire of variants for evolution. The mutation rate in the human genome has recently been measured to be 50–70 de novo single nucleotide variants (SNVs) between generations. During development mutations accumulate in somatic cells so that an organism is a mosaic. However, variation within a tissue and between tissues has not been analysed. By reprogramming somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), their genomes and the associated mutational history are captured. By sequencing the genomes of polyclonal and monoclonal somatic cells and derived iPSCs we have determined the mutation rates and show how the patterns change from a somatic lineage in vivo through to iPSCs. Somatic cells have a mutation rate of 14 SNVs per cell per generation while iPSCs exhibited a ten-fold lower rate. Analyses of mutational signatures suggested that deamination of methylated cytosine may be the major mutagenic source in vivo, whilst oxidative DNA damage becomes dominant in vitro. Our results provide insights for better understanding of mutational processes and lineage relationships between human somatic cells. Furthermore it provides a foundation for interpretation of elevated mutation rates and patterns in cancer.     

糖浓度及BMP4对小鼠诱导型多能干细胞成骨作用的研究

诱导型多能干细胞（induced pluripotent stem cells,iPS cells）技术的建立为自体组织工程治疗带来了新的希望。鉴于糖尿病患者常伴有骨再生性障碍,该研究比较了不同葡萄糖浓度下小鼠iPS细胞的成骨能力,并探讨了骨形态蛋4（bone morphogenetic protein4,BMP4）在该过程中的作用。实验结果显示：成骨诱导21d后,低糖组茜素红阳性细胞比例和成骨基INRunx2、Osteocalcin的表达水平显著高于高糖组和自发分化组（P〈0．05）;BMP4的添加提高了高糖组茜素红阳性细胞比例及Osteocalcin的表达水平（P〈0．05）,而对自发分化组细胞的成骨水平无影响。该结果表明：低葡萄糖含量对小鼠iPS细胞的骨向分化有促进作用’尽管BMP4可以提高高糖组小鼠iPS细胞的成骨能力,但仅在成骨分化条件下发挥作用。     

慢病毒介导的绿色荧光蛋白报告基因对人多能干细胞的生物风险评估研究

摘要 目的：探讨慢病毒介导的绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）标记人诱导多能干细胞（hiPSC）是否影响其细胞生物学特性,为多角度评价生物学风险提供实验基础。方法：慢病毒感染hiPSC后24小时,通过抗性基因表达筛选成功标记GFP的hiPSC。利用流式细胞分析法（FACS）检测GFP阳性的细胞比例。通过碱性磷酸酶染色检验干细胞的多能性,并通过免疫荧光染色检测多能性标记基因OCT4,NANOG,SOX2,SSEA4的表达情况。体外拟胚体分化实验检测GFP标记的hiPSC分化为不同胚层细胞的能力。结果：慢病毒感染不仅可以成功hiPSC标记上GFP,而且抗性基因表达筛选使GFP阳性细胞比例从37.5%提高到97.4%。AP染色和多能性标记基因的免疫染色证明标记后的细胞能维持多能性。体外分化实验显示感染后hiPSC可以形成拟胚体并实现三个胚层细胞共存。结论：慢病毒能够高效的标记hiPSC,并且不影响其多能性和拟胚体形成能力,可以用于后续的分化和细胞示踪研究。     

诱导性多能干细胞与肝样细胞分化

肝脏疾病正逐渐成为全球棘手的医疗问题。肝细胞是肝脏生理活动的主要承担者,在肝脏疾病的研究以及药物的研发和测试方面有着举足轻重的作用。然而,体外分离培养的原代肝细胞面临在体外不能无限增殖和稳定表达肝脏特异基因等问题。有强大的自我更新能力和三胚层分化潜能的诱导性多能肝细胞(iPSCs)能被诱导因子、外源基因和小分子化合物等定向诱导分化为功能性肝细胞。同时,还避免了伦理、宗教以及免疫排斥等诸多问题。本文简要综述了从不同策略诱导iPSCs成为功能性肝细胞的研究方法和成果,并对该领域进行小结和展望。     

Towards an Optimized Culture Medium for the Generation of Mouse Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells from somatic cells using defined factors has potential relevant applications in regenerative medicine and biology. However, this promising technology remains inefficient and time consuming. We have devised a serum free culture medium termed iSF1 that facilitates the generation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells. This optimization of the culture medium is sensitive to the presence of Myc in the reprogramming factors. Moreover, we could reprogram meningeal cells using only two factors Oct4/Klf4. Therefore, iSF1 represents a basal medium that may be used for mechanistic studies and testing new reprogramming approaches.     

不同组织来源的细胞建立诱导多能干细胞系的研究

目的:比较不同组织来源的细胞生成iPS细胞的效率,获得高效制备iPS细胞的组织类型.方法:通过四种逆转录病毒(OCT4/SOX2/KLF4/c-MYC)转染羊水细胞、绒毛细胞和皮肤成纤维细胞,建立不同组织来源的iPS细胞系.结果:我们建立了羊水、绒毛细胞和皮肤细胞三个不同组织来源的iPS细胞系,并对其多能性基因Oct4、Nanog以及分子表面标记Tra-1.60以及体外分化为三个胚层能力进行鉴定,发现利用羊水细胞建立iPS细胞的效率显著高于绒毛细胞和皮肤细胞.结论:羊水细胞可能是制备iPS细胞的理想细胞类型.     

Naive-like Conversion Overcomes the Limited Differentiation Capacity of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Although induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are indistinguishable from ES cells in their expression of pluripotent markers, their differentiation into targeted cells is often limited. Here, we examined whether the limited capacity of iPS cells to differentiate into neural lineage cells could be mitigated by improving their base-line level of pluripotency, i.e. by converting them into the so-called “naive” state. In this study, we used rabbit iPS and ES cells because of the easy availability of both cell types and their typical primed state characters. Repeated passages of the iPS cells permitted their differentiation into early neural cell types (neural stem cells, neurons, and glial astrocytes) with efficiencies similar to ES cells. However, unlike ES cells, their ability to differentiate later into neural cells (oligodendrocytes) was severely compromised. In contrast, after these iPS cells had been converted to a naive-like state, they readily differentiated into mature oligodendrocytes developing characteristic ramified branches, which could not be attained even with ES cells. These results suggest that the naive-like conversion of iPS cells might endow them with a higher differentiation capacity.     

Organoid-Induced Differentiation of Conventional T Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

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Effective Cardiac Myocyte Differentiation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Requires VEGF

Perhaps one of the most significant achievements in modern science is the discovery of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), which have paved the way for regeneration therapy using patients’ own cells. Cardiomyocytes differentiated from hiPSCs (hiPSC-CMs) could be used for modelling patients with heart failure, for testing new drugs, and for cellular therapy in the future. However, the present cardiomyocyte differentiation protocols exhibit variable differentiation efficiency across different hiPSC lines, which inhibit the application of this technology significantly. Here, we demonstrate a novel myocyte differentiation protocol that can yield a significant, high percentage of cardiac myocyte differentiation (>85%) in 2 hiPSC lines, which makes the fabrication of a human cardiac muscle patch possible. The established hiPSCs cell lines being examined include the transgene integrated UCBiPS7 derived from cord blood cells and non-integrated PCBC16iPS from skin fibroblasts. The results indicate that hiPSC-CMs derived from established hiPSC lines respond to adrenergic or acetylcholine stimulation and beat regularly for greater than 60 days. This data also demonstrates that this novel differentiation protocol can efficiently generate hiPSC-CMs from iPSC lines that are derived not only from fibroblasts, but also from blood mononuclear cells.     

NEUROD1 Intrinsically Initiates Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into Neural Progenitor Cells

Cell type specification is a delicate biological event in which every step is under tight regulation. From a molecular point of view, cell fate commitment begins with chromatin alteration, which kickstarts lineage-determining factors to initiate a series of genes required for cell specification. Several important neuronal differentiation factors have been identified from ectopic over-expression studies. However, there is scarce information on which DNA regions are modified during induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) to neuronal progenitor cell (NPC) differentiation, the cis regulatory factors that attach to these accessible regions, or the genes that are initially expressed. In this study, we identified the DNA accessible regions of iPSCs and NPCs via the Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq). We identified which chromatin regions were modified after neuronal differentiation and found that the enhancer regions had more active histone modification changes than the promoters. Through motif enrichment analysis, we found that NEUROD1 controls iPSC differentiation to NPC by binding to the accessible regions of enhancers in cooperation with other factors such as the Hox proteins. Finally, by using Hi-C data, we categorized the genes that directly interacted with the enhancers under the control of NEUROD1 during iPSC to NPC differentiation.     

小分子化合物诱导干细胞向视网膜感光细胞分化的研究进展

干细胞是一类具有多向分化潜能的细胞群,如胚胎干细胞(embryonic stem cell,ESC)、诱导多潜能干细胞(induced pluripotent stem cell,i PSC)等,可在特定的条件下向包括视网膜感光细胞在内的多种细胞分化。小分子化合物是一类由组织细胞合成、分泌的小分子多肽类因子,特定的小分子化合物可作用于干细胞诱导其向视网膜感光细胞分化。目前,对干细胞体外培养,通过使用不同的诱导培养方案,探索干细胞向视网膜感光细胞分化的研究成为热点。早期,研究者们主要在共培养条件下采用小分子化合物诱导ESC向视网膜感光细胞分化,随着研究的进展,逐渐开始探索在无共培养条件下小分子化合物诱导ESC向视网膜感光细胞的分化以及小分子化合物诱导i PSC向视网膜感光细胞的分化。本文主要就小分子化合物促进ESC和i PSC向视网膜感光细胞分化的研究进展进行综述。     

Factors from Human Embryonic Stem Cell-derived Fibroblast-like Cells Promote Topology-dependent Hepatic Differentiation in Primate Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

The future clinical use of embryonic stem cell (ESC)-based hepatocyte replacement therapy depends on the development of an efficient procedure for differentiation of hepatocytes from ESCs. Here we report that a high density of human ESC-derived fibroblast-like cells (hESdFs) supported the efficient generation of hepatocyte-like cells with functional and mature hepatic phenotypes from primate ESCs and human induced pluripotent stem cells. Molecular and immunocytochemistry analyses revealed that hESdFs caused a rapid loss of pluripotency and induced a sequential endoderm-to-hepatocyte differentiation in the central area of ESC colonies. Knockdown experiments demonstrated that pluripotent stem cells were directed toward endodermal and hepatic lineages by FGF2 and activin A secreted from hESdFs. Furthermore, we found that the central region of ESC colonies was essential for the hepatic endoderm-specific differentiation, because its removal caused a complete disruption of endodermal differentiation. In conclusion, we describe a novel in vitro differentiation model and show that hESdF-secreted factors act in concert with regional features of ESC colonies to induce robust hepatic endoderm differentiation in primate pluripotent stem cells.