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BACKGROUND Heterogeneity of endothelial cells (ECs) is a hallmark of the vascular system which may impact the development and management of vascular disorders. Despite the tremendous progress in differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) towards endothelial lineage,differentiation into arterial and venous endothelial phenotypes remains elusive. Additionally,current differentiation strategies are hampered by inefficiency,lack of reproducibility,and use of animal-derived products. METHODS To direct the differentiation of hESCs to endothelial subtypes,H1- and H9-hESCs were seeded on human plasma fibronectin and differentiated under chemically defined conditions by sequential modulation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3),basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF),bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathways for 5 days. Following the initial differentiation,the endothelial progenitor cells (CD34(+)CD31(+) cells) were sorted and terminally differentiated under serum-free conditions to arterial and venous ECs. The transcriptome and secretome profiles of the two distinct populations of hESC-derived arterial and venous ECs were characterized. Furthermore,the safety and functionality of these cells upon in vivo transplantation were characterized. RESULTS Sequential modulation of hESCs with GSK-3 inhibitor,bFGF,BMP4 and VEGF resulted in stages reminiscent of primitive streak,early mesoderm/lateral plate mesoderm,and endothelial progenitors under feeder- and serum-free conditions. Furthermore,these endothelial progenitors demonstrated differentiation potential to almost pure populations of arterial and venous endothelial phenotypes under serum-free conditions. Specifically,the endothelial progenitors differentiated to venous ECs in the absence of VEGF,and to arterial phenotype under low concentrations of VEGF. Additionally,these hESC-derived arterial and venous ECs showed distinct molecular and functional profiles in vitro. Furthermore,these hESC-derived arterial and venous ECs were nontumorigenic and were functional in terms of forming perfused microvascular channels upon subcutaneous implantation in the mouse. CONCLUSIONS We report a simple,rapid,and efficient protocol for directed differentiation of hESCs into endothelial progenitor cells capable of differentiation to arterial and venous ECs under feeder-free and serum-free conditions. This could offer a human platform to study arterial-venous specification for various applications related to drug discovery,disease modeling and regenerative medicine in the future. View Publication

Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia are amongst the most common forms of dementia characterized by the formation and deposition of abnormal TAU in the brain. In order to develop a translational human TAU aggregation model suitable for screening,we transduced TAU harboring the pro-aggregating P301L mutation into control hiPSC-derived neural progenitor cells followed by differentiation into cortical neurons. TAU aggregation and phosphorylation was quantified using AlphaLISA technology. Although no spontaneous aggregation was observed upon expressing TAU-P301L in neurons,seeding with preformed aggregates consisting of the TAU-microtubule binding repeat domain triggered robust TAU aggregation and hyperphosphorylation already after 2 weeks,without affecting general cell health. To validate our model,activity of two autophagy inducers was tested. Both rapamycin and trehalose significantly reduced TAU aggregation levels suggesting that iPSC-derived neurons allow for the generation of a biologically relevant human Tauopathy model,highly suitable to screen for compounds that modulate TAU aggregation. View Publication

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have potential for personalized and regenerative medicine. While most of the methods using these cells have focused on deriving homogenous populations of specialized cells,there has been modest success in producing hiPSC-derived organotypic tissues or organoids. Here we present a novel approach for generating and then co-differentiating hiPSC-derived progenitors. With a genetically engineered pulse of GATA-binding protein 6 (GATA6) expression,we initiate rapid emergence of all three germ layers as a complex function of GATA6 expression levels and tissue context. Within 2 weeks we obtain a complex tissue that recapitulates early developmental processes and exhibits a liver bud-like phenotype,including haematopoietic and stromal cells as well as a neuronal niche. Collectively,our approach demonstrates derivation of complex tissues from hiPSCs using a single autologous hiPSCs as source and generates a range of stromal cells that co-develop with parenchymal cells to form tissues. View Publication

BACKGROUND: Many retinal degenerative diseases are caused by the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Autosomal dominant optic atrophy is the most common hereditary optic atrophy disease and is characterized by central vision loss and degeneration of RGCs. Currently,there is no effective treatment for this group of diseases. However,stem cell therapy holds great potential for replacing lost RGCs of patients. Compared with embryonic stem cells,induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be derived from adult somatic cells,and they are associated with fewer ethical concerns and are less prone to immune rejection. In addition,patient-derived iPSCs may provide us with a cellular model for studying the pathogenesis and potential therapeutic agents for optic atrophy.backslashnbackslashnMETHODS: In this study,iPSCs were obtained from patients carrying an OPA1 mutation (OPA1 (+/-) -iPSC) that were diagnosed with optic atrophy. These iPSCs were differentiated into putative RGCs,which were subsequently characterized by using RGC-specific expression markers BRN3a and ISLET-1.backslashnbackslashnRESULTS: Mutant OPA1 (+/-) -iPSCs exhibited significantly more apoptosis and were unable to efficiently differentiate into RGCs. However,with the addition of neural induction medium,Noggin,or estrogen,OPA1 (+/-) -iPSC differentiation into RGCs was promoted.backslashnbackslashnCONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that apoptosis mediated by OPA1 mutations plays an important role in the pathogenesis of optic atrophy,and both noggin and β-estrogen may represent potential therapeutic agents for OPA1-related optic atrophy. View Publication

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cortical neurons potentially present a powerful new model to understand corticogenesis and neurological disease. Previous work has established that differentiation protocols can produce cortical neurons,but little has been done to characterize these at cellular resolution. In particular,it is unclear to what extent in vitro two-dimensional,relatively disordered culture conditions recapitulate the development of in vivo cortical layer identity. Single-cell multiplex reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to interrogate the expression of genes previously implicated in cortical layer or phenotypic identity in individual cells. Totally,93.6% of single cells derived from iPSCs expressed genes indicative of neuronal identity. High proportions of single neurons derived from iPSCs expressed glutamatergic receptors and synaptic genes. And,68.4% of iPSC-derived neurons expressing at least one layer marker could be assigned to a laminar identity using canonical cortical layer marker genes. We compared single-cell RNA-seq of our iPSC-derived neurons to available single-cell RNA-seq data from human fetal and adult brain and found that iPSC-derived cortical neurons closely resembled primary fetal brain cells. Unexpectedly,a subpopulation of iPSC-derived neurons co-expressed canonical fetal deep and upper cortical layer markers. However,this appeared to be concordant with data from primary cells. Our results therefore provide reassurance that iPSC-derived cortical neurons are highly similar to primary cortical neurons at the level of single cells but suggest that current layer markers,although effective,may not be able to disambiguate cortical layer identity in all cells. View Publication

X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder involving a progressive loss of striatal medium spiny neurons. The mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration are not known,in part because there have been few cellular models available for studying the disease. The XDP haplotype consists of multiple sequence variations in a region of the X chromosome containingTAF1,a large gene with at least 38 exons,and a multiple transcript system (MTS) composed of five unconventional exons. A previous study identified an XDP-specific insertion of a SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA)-type retrotransposon in intron 32 ofTAF1,as well as a neural-specific TAF1 isoform,N-TAF1,which showed decreased expression in post-mortem XDP brain compared with control tissue. Here,we generated XDP patient and control fibroblasts and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in order to further probe cellular defects associated with this disease. As initial validation of the model,we compared expression ofTAF1and MTS transcripts in XDP versus control fibroblasts and iPSC-derived neural stem cells (NSCs). Compared with control cells,XDP fibroblasts exhibited decreased expression ofTAF1transcript fragments derived from exons 32-36,a region spanning the SVA insertion site. N-TAF1,which incorporates an alternative exon (exon 34'),was not expressed in fibroblasts,but was detectable in iPSC-differentiated NSCs at levels that were ∼threefold lower in XDP cells than in controls. These results support the previous findings that N-TAF1 expression is impaired in XDP,but additionally indicate that this aberrant transcription might occur in neural cells at relatively early stages of development that precede neurodegeneration. View Publication

RNA functions at enhancers remain mysterious. Here we show that the 7SK small nuclear RNA (snRNA) inhibits enhancer transcription by modulating nucleosome position. 7SK occupies enhancers and super enhancers genome wide in mouse and human cells,and it is required to limit enhancer-RNA initiation and synthesis in a manner distinct from promoter pausing. Clustered elements at super enhancers uniquely require 7SK to prevent convergent transcription and DNA-damage signaling. 7SK physically interacts with the BAF chromatin-remodeling complex,recruits BAF to enhancers and inhibits enhancer transcription by modulating chromatin structure. In turn,7SK occupancy at enhancers coincides with that of Brd4 and is exquisitely sensitive to the bromodomain inhibitor JQ1. Thus,7SK uses distinct mechanisms to counteract the diverse consequences of pervasive transcription that distinguish super enhancers,enhancers and promoters. View Publication

Glioma tumour-initiating cells (GTICs) can originate upon the transformation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Studies on GTICs have focused on primary tumours from which GTICs could be isolated and the use of human embryonic material. Recently,the somatic genomic landscape of human gliomas has been reported. RTK (receptor tyrosine kinase) and p53 signalling were found dysregulated in ∼90% and 86% of all primary tumours analysed,respectively. Here we report on the use of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) for modelling gliomagenesis. Dysregulation of RTK and p53 signalling in hiPSC-derived NPCs (iNPCs) recapitulates GTIC properties in vitro. In vivo transplantation of transformed iNPCs leads to highly aggressive tumours containing undifferentiated stem cells and their differentiated derivatives. Metabolic modulation compromises GTIC viability. Last,screening of 101 anti-cancer compounds identifies three molecules specifically targeting transformed iNPCs and primary GTICs. Together,our results highlight the potential of hiPSCs for studying human tumourigenesis. View Publication

Although clonal studies of lineage potential have been extensively applied to organ specific stem and progenitor cells,much less is known about the clonal origins of lineages formed from the germ layers in early embryogenesis. We applied lentiviral tagging followed by vector integration site analysis (VISA) with high-throughput sequencing to investigate the ontogeny of the hematopoietic,endothelial and mesenchymal lineages as they emerge from human embryonic mesoderm. In contrast to studies that have used VISA to track differentiation of self-renewing stem cell clones that amplify significantly over time,we focused on a population of progenitor clones with limited self-renewal capability. Our analyses uncovered the critical influence of sampling on the interpretation of lentiviral tag sharing,particularly among complex populations with minimal clonal duplication. By applying a quantitative framework to estimate the degree of undersampling we revealed the existence of tripotent mesodermal progenitors derived from pluripotent stem cells,and the subsequent bifurcation of their differentiation into bipotent endothelial/hematopoietic or endothelial/mesenchymal progenitors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View Publication

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) have successfully been derived from somatic fibroblasts through transfection of synthetic modified mRNA encoding transcription factors. This technique obviates the use of recombinant DNA and viral vectors in cellular reprogramming. The present study derived iPSC from adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (of a 50-year-old female patient) by utilizing a similar technique,but with defined culture medium without feeder cells,during both reprogramming and propagation. Clonal selection was performed to yield 12 putative iPSC lines from individual colonies of nascent reprogrammed cells,starting from 150,000 cells. However,only seven lines maintained their undifferentiated state after 10 continuous serial passages. These seven lines were then subjected to a rigorous battery of analyses to confirm their identity as iPSC. These tests included immunostaining,flow cytometry,qRT-PCR,in vitro differentiation assay,and teratoma formation assay within SCID mice. Positive results were consistently observed in all analyses,thus verifying the cells as fully reprogrammed iPSC. While all 7 iPSC lines displayed normal karyogram up to passage 13,chromosomal anomalies occurred in 4 of 7 lines with extended in vitro culture beyond 24 serial passages. Only three lines retained normal karyotype of 46,XX. The remaining four lines displayed mosaicism of normal and abnormal karyotypes. Hence,this study successfully derived iPSC from abundant and easily accessible adipose tissues of a middle-aged patient; utilizing a mRNA-based integration-free technique under feeder-free conditions. This is a step forward in translating iPSC into personalized regenerative medicine within the clinic. ?? 2013 Elsevier Inc. View Publication

Functional endothelial-like cells (EC) have been successfully derived from different cell sources and potentially used for treatment of cardiovascular diseases; however,their relative therapeutic efficacy remains unclear. We differentiated functional EC from human bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-EC),human embryonic stem cells (hESC-EC) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-EC),and compared their in-vitro tube formation,migration and cytokine expression profiles,and in-vivo capacity to attenuate hind-limb ischemia in mice. Successful differentiation of BM-EC was only achieved in 1/6 patient with severe coronary artery disease. Nevertheless,BM-EC,hESC-EC and hiPSC-EC exhibited typical cobblestone morphology,had the ability of uptaking DiI-labeled acetylated low-density-lipoprotein,and binding of Ulex europaeus lectin. In-vitro functional assay demonstrated that hiPSC-EC and hESC-EC had similar capacity for tube formation and migration as human umbilical cord endothelial cells (HUVEC) and BM-EC (Ptextgreater0.05). While increased expression of major angiogenic factors including epidermal growth factor,hepatocyte growth factor,vascular endothelial growth factor,placental growth factor and stromal derived factor-1 were observed in all EC cultures during hypoxia compared with normoxia (Ptextless0.05),the magnitudes of cytokine up-regulation upon hypoxic were more dramatic in hiPSC-EC and hESC-EC (Ptextless0.05). Compared with medium,transplanting BM-EC (n = 6),HUVEC (n = 6),hESC-EC (n = 8) or hiPSC-EC (n = 8) significantly attenuated severe hind-limb ischemia in mice via enhancement of neovascularization. In conclusion,functional EC can be generated from hECS and hiPSC with similar therapeutic efficacy for attenuation of severe hind-limb ischemia. Differentiation of functional BM-EC was more difficult to achieve in patients with cardiovascular diseases,and hESC-EC or iPSC-EC are readily available as off-the-shelf" format for the treatment of tissue ischemia." View Publication

Faithful execution of developmental gene expression programs occurs at multiple levels and involves many different components such as transcription factors,histone-modification enzymes,and mRNA processing proteins. Recent evidence suggests that nucleoporins,well known components that control nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking,have wide-ranging functions in developmental gene regulation that potentially extend beyond their role in nuclear transport. Whether the unexpected role of nuclear pore proteins in transcription regulation,which initially has been described in fungi and flies,also applies to human cells is unknown. Here we show at a genome-wide level that the nuclear pore protein NUP98 associates with developmentally regulated genes active during human embryonic stem cell differentiation. Overexpression of a dominant negative fragment of NUP98 levels decreases expression levels of NUP98-bound genes. In addition,we identify two modes of developmental gene regulation by NUP98 that are differentiated by the spatial localization of NUP98 target genes. Genes in the initial stage of developmental induction can associate with NUP98 that is embedded in the nuclear pores at the nuclear periphery. Alternatively,genes that are highly induced can interact with NUP98 in the nuclear interior,away from the nuclear pores. This work demonstrates for the first time that NUP98 dynamically associates with the human genome during differentiation,revealing a role of a nuclear pore protein in regulating developmental gene expression programs. View Publication