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Differentiation of human embryonic stem (ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into hepatocyte-like cells provides a platform to study the molecular basis of human hepatocyte differentiation,to develop cell culture models of liver disease,and to potentially provide hepatocytes for treatment of end-stage liver disease. Additionally,hepatocyte-like cells generated from human pluripotent stem cells could serve as platforms for drug discovery,determination of pharmaceutical-induced hepatotoxicity,and evaluation of idiosyncratic drug-drug interactions. Here,we describe a step-wise protocol previously developed in our laboratory that facilitates the highly efficient and reproducible differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into hepatocyte-like cells. Our protocol uses defined culture conditions and closely recapitulates key developmental events that are found to occur during hepatogenesis. View Publication

While human pluripotent stem cells are attractive sources for cell-replacement therapies,a major concern remains regarding their tumorigenic potential. Thus,safety assessment of human pluripotent stem cell-based products in terms of tumorigenicity is critical. Previously we have identified a pluripotent stem cell-specific lectin probe rBC2LCN recognizing hyperglycosylated podocalyxin as a cell surface ligand. Here we demonstrate that hyperglycosylated podocalyxin is secreted from human pluripotent stem cells into cell culture supernatants. We establish a sandwich assay system,named the GlycoStem test,targeting the soluble hyperglycosylated podocalyxin using rBC2LCN. The GlycoStem test is sufficiently sensitive and quantitative to detect residual human pluripotent stem cells. This work provides a proof of concept for the noninvasive and quantitative detection of tumorigenic human pluripotent stem cells using cell culture supernatants. The developed method should increase the safety of human pluripotent stem cell-based cell therapies. View Publication

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) initiate differentiation in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) but the exact mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. We demonstrate here that SLUG and MSX2,transcription factors involved in epithelial-mesenchymal transitions,essential features of gastrulation in development and tumor progression,are important mediators of BMP4-induced differentiation in hESCs. Phosphorylated Smad1/5/8 colocalized with the SLUG protein at the edges of hESC colonies where differentiation takes place. The upregulation of the BMP target SLUG was direct as shown by the binding of phosphorylated Smad1/5/8 to its promoter,which interrupted the formation of adhesion proteins,resulting in migration. Knockdown of SLUG by short hairpin RNA blocked these changes,confirming an important role for SLUG in BMP-mediated mesodermal differentiation. Furthermore,BMP4-induced MSX2 expression leads to mesoderm formation and then preferential differentiation toward the cardiovascular lineage. View Publication

Skeletal dysplasias (SDs) are caused by abnormal chondrogenesis during cartilage growth plate differentiation. To study early stages of aberrant cartilage formation in vitro,we generated the first induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from fibroblasts of an SD patient with a lethal form of metatropic dysplasia,caused by a dominant mutation (I604M) in the calcium channel gene TRPV4. When micromasses were grown in chondrogenic differentiation conditions and compared with control iPSCs,mutant TRPV4-iPSCs showed significantly (Ptextless0.05) decreased expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction of COL2A1 (IIA and IIB forms),SOX9,Aggrecan,COL10A1,and RUNX2,all of which are cartilage growth plate markers. We found that stimulation with BMP2,but not TGF$\$1,up-regulated COL2A1 (IIA and IIB) and SOX9 gene expression,only in control iPSCs. COL2A1 (Collagen II) expression data were confirmed at the protein level by western blot and immunofluorescence microscopy. TRPV4-iPSCs showed only focal areas of Alcian blue stain for proteoglycans,while in control iPSCs the stain was seen throughout the micromass sample. Similar staining patterns were found in neonatal cartilage from control and patient samples. We also found that COL1A1 (Collagen I),a marker of osteogenic differentiation,was significantly (Ptextless0.05) up-regulated at the mRNA level in TRPV4-iPSCs when compared with the control,and confirmed at the protein level. Collagen I expression in the TRPV4 model also may correlate with abnormal staining patterns seen in patient tissues. This study demonstrates that an iPSC model can recapitulate normal chondrogenesis and that mutant TRPV4-iPSCs reflect molecular evidence of aberrant chondrogenic developmental processes,which could be used to design therapeutic approaches for disorders of cartilage. View Publication

The tumorigenicity of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) is widely acknowledged as a major obstacle that withholds their application in regenerative medicine. This protocol describes two efficient and robust ways to chemically eliminate the tumor-initiating hPSCs from monolayer culture. The protocol details how to maintain and differentiate hPSCs,how to apply chemical inhibitors to cultures of hPSCs and their differentiated progeny,and how to assess the purity of the resultant cell cultures using in vitro and in vivo assays. It also describes how to rescue the cytotoxic effect. The elimination and the rescue assay can be completed within 3-5 d,the in vitro assessment requires another day,and the in vivo assessment requires up to 12 additional weeks. View Publication

NK cells are key regulators of innate defense against mouse CMV (MCMV). Like NK cells,NKT cells also produce high levels of IFN-γ rapidly after MCMV infection. However,whether similar mechanisms govern activation of these two cell types,as well as the significance of NKT cells for host resistance,remain unknown. In this article,we show that,although both NKT and NK cells are activated via cytokines,their particular cytokine requirements differ significantly in vitro and in vivo. IL-12 is required for NKT cell activation in vitro but is not sufficient,whereas NK cells have the capacity to be activated more promiscuously in response to individual cytokines from innate cells. In line with these results,GM-CSF-derived dendritic cells activated only NK cells upon MCMV infection,consistent with their virtual lack of IL-12 production,whereas Flt3 ligand-derived dendritic cells produced IL-12 and activated both NK and NKT cells. In vivo,NKT cell activation was abolished in IL-12(-/-) mice infected with MCMV,whereas NK cells were still activated. In turn,splenic NK cell activation was more IL-18 dependent. The differential requirements for IL-12 and IL-18 correlated with the levels of cytokine receptor expression by NK and NKT cells. Finally,mice lacking NKT cells showed reduced control of MCMV,and depleting NK cells further enhanced viral replication. Taken together,our results show that NKT and NK cells have differing requirements for cytokine-mediated activation,and both can contribute nonredundantly to MCMV defense,revealing that these two innate lymphocyte subsets function together to fine-tune antiviral responses. View Publication

[3H]thymidine uptake by NFS-60 cells in microcultures was found to increase in a linear fashion with the increasing doses of purified recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF). Such increases were found neither with rhG-CSF samples pretreated with rabbit anti-rhG-CSF serum nor with other human colony-stimulating factors such as granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) or macrophage colony-stimulating factor (hM-CSF). Based on these findings,sera from normal persons and patients with severe infections or various hematological disorders were tested after dialysis using this system in order to determine whether G-CSF levels in sera can be estimated or not. In ten normal persons,five patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML M1,M2,and M3),five with myelodysplastic syndrome,and four with chronic myelogenous leukemia,no increases in [3H]thymidine uptake were found within the dose range of 0.4 microliters to 50 microliters. In contrast,linear dose responses parallel to a G-CSF standard curve were observed in one patient with a severe bacterial infection,four with aplastic anemia,two with acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMMoL) (M4),and two with idiopathic neutropenia tested. From the standard curve,the probable levels of G-CSF were calculated as follows: approximately 200 pg/ml with infection,130-220 pg/ml with aplastic anemia,150 and 200 pg/ml with AMMoL,and 1120 and 1200 pg/ml with idiopathic neutropenia. The activities of sera were reduced by the anti-rhG-CSF serum pretreatment in the same way as documented in the case of rhG-CSF. Furthermore,the level in a patient with a severe infection became undetectable soon after elimination of the infection and blood neutrophil counts had returned to normal. These findings indicate that the microbioassay system will be useful for measuring circulating G-CSF levels which would fluctuate in accord with requirements for stimulating neutrophil production or with abnormal production of hG-CSF. View Publication

TDP-43 is found in cytoplasmic inclusions in 95% of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 60% of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Approximately 4% of familial ALS is caused by mutations in TDP-43. The majority of these mutations are found in the glycine-rich domain,including the variant M337V,which is one of the most common mutations in TDP-43. In order to investigate the use of allele-specific RNA interference (RNAi) as a potential therapeutic tool,we designed and screened a set of siRNAs that specifically target TDP-43(M337V) mutation. Two siRNA specifically silenced the M337V mutation in HEK293T cells transfected with GFP-TDP-43(wt) or GFP-TDP-43(M337V) or TDP-43 C-terminal fragments counterparts. C-terminal TDP-43 transfected cells show an increase of cytosolic inclusions,which are decreased after allele-specific siRNA in M337V cells. We then investigated the effects of one of these allele-specific siRNAs in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from an ALS patient carrying the M337V mutation. These lines showed a two-fold increase in cytosolic TDP-43 compared to the control. Following transfection with the allele-specific siRNA,cytosolic TDP-43 was reduced by 30% compared to cells transfected with a scrambled siRNA. We conclude that RNA interference can be used to selectively target the TDP-43(M337V) allele in mammalian and patient cells,thus demonstrating the potential for using RNA interference as a therapeutic tool for ALS. View Publication

The development of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) facilitates in vitro studies of human disease mechanisms,speeds up the process of drug screening,and raises the feasibility of using cell replacement therapy in clinics. However,the study of genotype-phenotype relationships in ESCs or iPSCs is hampered by the low efficiency of site-specific gene editing. Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) spurred interest due to the ease of assembly,high efficiency and faithful gene targeting. In this study,we optimized the TALEN design to maximize its genomic cutting efficiency. We showed that using optimized TALENs in conjunction with single-strand oligodeoxynucleotide (ssODN) allowed efficient gene editing in human cells. Gene mutations and gene deletions for up to 7.8 kb can be accomplished at high efficiencies. We established human tumor cell lines and H9 ESC lines with homozygous deletion of the microRNA-21 (miR-21) gene and miR-9-2 gene. These cell lines provide a robust platform to dissect the roles these genes play during cell differentiation and tumorigenesis. We also observed that the endogenous homologous chromosome can serve as a donor template for gene editing. Overall,our studies demonstrate the versatility of using ssODN and TALEN to establish genetically modified cells for research and therapeutic application. View Publication

Integrating viruses represent robust tools for cellular reprogramming; however,the presence of viral transgenes in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is deleterious because it holds the risk of insertional mutagenesis leading to malignant transformation. Here,we combine the robustness of lentiviral reprogramming with the efficacy of Cre recombinase protein transduction to derive iPSCs devoid of transgenes. By genome-wide analysis and targeted differentiation towards the cardiomyocyte lineage,we show that transgene-free iPSCs are superior to iPSCs before Cre transduction. Our study provides a simple,rapid and robust protocol for the generation of clinical-grade iPSCs suitable for disease modeling,tissue engineering and cell replacement therapies. View Publication

BACKGROUND Although studies have shown that Oct4,Sox2,Klf4,and c-Myc (OKSM)-mediated induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology sensitizes cancer cells to drugs,the potential risk of inserting c-Myc and random insertions of exogenous sequences into the genome persists. Several authors,including us,have presented microRNA (miRNA)-mediated reprogramming as an alternative approach. Herein,we evaluated the efficacy of miRNA-mediated reprogramming on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. METHODS Among three miRNAs (miR-200c,miR-302s,and miR-369s) that were previously presented for miRNA-mediated reprogramming,miR-302 was expressed at low levels in HCC cells. After transfecting three times with miR-302,the cells were incubated in ES medium for 3 weeks and then characterized. RESULTS iPSC-like spheres were obtained after the 3-week incubation. Spheres presented high NANOG and OCT4 expression,low proliferation,high apoptosis,low epithelial-mesenchymal transition marker expression (N-cadherin,TGFBR2),and sensitization to drugs. Several miRNAs were changed (e.g.,low oncomiR miR-21,high miR-29b). cMyc was decreased,and methylation was elevated on histone 3 at lysine 4 (H3K4). Differentiated cells expressed markers of each germ layer (GFAP,FABP4,and ALB). AOF2 (also known as LSD1 or KDM1),one of the targets for miR-302,was repressed in iPSC-like-spheres. Silencing of AOF2 resulted in similar features of iPSC-like-spheres,including cMyc down-regulation and H3K4 methylation. In drug-resistant cells,sensitization was achieved through miR-302-mediated reprogramming. CONCLUSIONS miR-302-mediated iPSC technology reprogrammed HCC cells and improved drug sensitivity through AOF2 down-regulation,which caused H3K4 methylation and c-Myc repression. View Publication

During mammalian embryonic development,the primitive streak initiates the differentiation of pluripotent epiblast cells into germ layers. Pluripotency can be reacquired in committed somatic cells using a combination of a handful of transcription factors,such as OCT3/4,SOX2,KLF4 and c-MYC (hereafter referred to as OSKM),albeit with low efficiency. Here we show that during OSKM-induced reprogramming towards pluripotency in human cells,intermediate cells transiently show gene expression profiles resembling mesendoderm,which is a major component of the primitive streak. Based on these findings,we discover that forkhead box H1 (FOXH1),a transcription factor required for anterior primitive streak specification during early development,significantly enhances the reprogramming efficiency of human fibroblasts by promoting their maturation,including mesenchymal to epithelial transition and the activation of late pluripotency markers. These results demonstrate that during the reprogramming process,human somatic cells go through a transient state that resembles mesendoderm. View Publication