技术资料

Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from human adult somatic cells through reprogramming hold great promises for future regenerative medicine. However,exposure of human iPSCs to animal feeder and serum in the process of their generation and maintenance imposes risk of transmitting animal pathogens to human subjects,thus hindering the potential therapeutic applications. Here,we report the successful generation of human iPSCs in a feeder-independent culture system with defined factors. Two stable human iPSC lines were established from primary human dermal fibroblasts of two healthy volunteers. These human iPSCs expressed a panel of pluripotency markers including stage-specific embryonic antigen (SSEA)-4,tumor-rejection antigen (TRA)-1-60,TRA-1-81,and alkaline phosphatase,while maintaining normal karyotypes and the exogenous reprogramming factors being silenced. In addition,these human iPSCs can differentiate along lineages representative of the three embryonic germ layers upon formation of embryoid bodies,indicating their pluripotency. Furthermore,subcutaneous transplantation of these cells into immunodeficient mice resulted in teratoma formation in 6 to 8 weeks. Our findings are an important step toward generating patient-specific iPSCs in a more clinically compliant manner by eliminating the need of animal feeder cells and animal serum. View Publication

Because primary myelofibrosis (PMF) originates at the level of the pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell (HSC),we examined the effects of various therapeutic agents on the in vitro and in vivo behavior of PMF CD34(+) cells. Treatment of PMF CD34(+) cells with chromatin-modifying agents (CMAs) but not hydroxyurea,Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) inhibitors,or low doses of interferon-α led to the generation of greater numbers of CD34(+) chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor (CXCR)4(+) cells,which were capable of migrating in response to chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL)12 and resulted in a reduction in the proportion of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) that were JAK2V617F(+). Furthermore,sequential treatment of PMF CD34(+) cells but not normal CD34(+) cells with decitabine (5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine [5azaD]),followed by suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA; 5azaD/SAHA),or trichostatin A (5azaD/TSA) resulted in a higher degree of apoptosis. Two to 6 months after the transplantation of CMAs treated JAK2V617F(+) PMF CD34(+) cells into nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (SCID)/IL-2Rγ(null) mice,the percentage of JAK2V617F/JAK2(total) in human CD45(+) marrow cells was dramatically reduced. These findings suggest that both PMF HPCs,short-term and long-term SCID repopulating cells (SRCs),are JAK2V617F(+) and that JAK2V617F(+) HPCs and SRCs can be eliminated by sequential treatment with CMAs. Sequential treatment with CMAs,therefore,represents a possible effective means of treating PMF at the level of the malignant SRC. View Publication

For human embryonic stem cells (ESC) to be used in cell replacement therapies,they must be grown under good manufacturing conditions in a chemically defined medium that lacks animal proteins. This study examined the ability of a newly designed medium containing the plant-derived serum replacement VegetaCell and other reagents of human origin to support undifferentiated growth and pluripotency of human ESC. This medium was tested in several culture systems,using human fibroblasts as a feeder layer or Matrigel in a feeder-free culture. Even under the most stringent feeder-free conditions without conditioned medium,human ESC exhibited an undifferentiated morphology,expressed markers of undifferentiated cells,demonstrated high alkaline phosphatase activity and multilineage differentiation and retained a normal karyotype. Compared with human ESC grown in standard culture conditions,human ESC maintained in humanized VegetaCell medium show longer cell cycles and decreased cell death. The availability of an animal protein-free medium supplemented with the low-cost VegetaCell reagent expands the repertoire of media for culturing human ESC as well as induced pluripotent stem cells for drug testing and cell replacement therapy. View Publication

BACKGROUND: Persistent mixed chimerism represents a state in which recipient and donor cells stably co-exist after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However,since in most of the studies reported in literature the engraftment state was observed in the nucleated cells,in this study we determined the donor origin of the mature erythrocytes of patients with persistent mixed chimerism after transplantation for hemoglobinopathies. Results were compared with the engraftment state observed in singly picked out burst-forming unit - erythroid colonies and in the nucleated cells collected from the peripheral blood and from the bone marrow. DESIGN AND METHODS: The donor origin of the erythrocytes was determined analyzing differences on the surface antigens of the erythrocyte suspension after incubation with anti-ABO and/or anti-C,-c,-D,-E and -e monoclonal antibodies by a flow cytometer. Analysis of short tandem repeats was used to determine the donor origin of nucleated cells and burst-forming unit - erythroid colonies singly picked out after 14 days of incubation. RESULTS: The proportions of donor-derived nucleated cells in four transplanted patients affected by hemoglobinopathies were 71%,46%,15% and 25% at day 1364,1385,1314 and 932,respectively. Similar results were obtained for the erythroid precursors,analyzing the donor/recipient origin of the burst-forming unit - erythroid colonies. In contrast,on the same days of observation,the proportions of donor-derived erythrocytes in the four patients with persistent mixed chimerism were 100%,100%,73% and 90%. Conclusions Our results showed that most of the erythrocytes present in four long-term transplanted patients affected by hemoglobinopathies and characterized by the presence of few donor engrafted nucleated cells were of donor origin. The indication that small proportions of donor engrafted cells might be sufficient for clinical control of the disease in patients affected by hemoglobinopathies is relevant,although the biological mechanisms underlying these observations need further investigation. View Publication

High maternal blood glucose levels caused by diabetes mellitus can irreversibly lead to maldevelopment of the growing fetus with specific effects on the skeleton. To date,it remains controversial at which stage embryonic development is affected. Specifically during embryonic bone development,it is unclear whether diminished bone mineral density is caused by reduced osteoblast or rather enhanced osteoclast function. Therefore,the aim of this study was to characterize the growth as well as the skeletal differentiation capability of pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs),which may serve as an in vitro model for all stages of embryonic development,when cultured in diabetic levels of D-glucose (4.5 g/L) versus physiological levels (1.0 g/L). Results showed that cells cultivated in physiological glucose gave rise to a higher number of colonies with an undifferentiated character as compared to cells grown in diabetic glucose concentrations. In contrast,these cultures were characterized by slightly decreased expression of proteins associated with the stem cell state. Furthermore,differentiation of ESCs into osteoblasts and osteoclasts was favored in physiological glucose concentrations,demonstrated by an increased matrix calcification,enhanced expression of cell-type-specific mRNAs,as well as activity of the cell-type-specific enzymes,alkaline,and tartrate resistant acidic phosphatase. In fact,this pattern was noted in murine as well as in primate ESCs. Our study suggests that an interplay between both the osteoblast and the osteoclast lineage is needed for proper skeletal development to occur,which seems impaired in hyperglycemic conditions. View Publication

The longevity of organisms is maintained by stem cells. If an organism loses the ability to maintain a balance between quiescence and differentiation in the stem/progenitor cell compartment due to aging and/or stress,this may result in death or age-associated diseases,including cancer. Ewing sarcoma is the most lethal bone tumor in young patients and arises from primitive stem cells. Here,we demonstrated that endogenous Ewing sarcoma gene (Ews) is indispensable for stem cell quiescence,and that the ablation of Ews promotes the early onset of senescence in hematopoietic stem progenitor cells. The phenotypic and functional changes in Ews-deficient stem cells were accompanied by an increase in senescence-associated β-galactosidase staining and a marked induction of p16(INK4a) compared with wild-type counterparts. With its relevance to cancer and possibly aging,EWS is likely to play a significant role in maintaining the functional capacity of stem cells and may provide further insight into the complexity of Ewing sarcoma in the context of stem cells. View Publication

Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) were first derived and cultured almost 30 years ago and ever since have been valuable tools for creating knockout mice and for studying early mammalian development. More recently (1998),human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have been derived from blastocysts,and numerous methods have evolved to culture hESCs in vitro in both complex and defined media. hESCs are especially important at this time as they could potentially be used to treat degenerative diseases and to access the toxicity of new drugs and environmental chemicals. For both human and mouse ESCs,fibroblast feeder layers are often used at some phase in the culturing protocol. The feeders - often mouse embryonic fibroblasts (mEFs) - provide a substrate that increases plating efficiency,helps maintain pluripotency,and facilitates survival and growth of the stem cells. Various protocols for culturing embryonic stem cells from both species are available with newer trends moving toward feeder-free and serum-free culture. The purpose of this chapter is to provide basic protocol information on the isolation of mouse embryonic fibroblasts and establishment of feeder layers,the culture of mESCs on both mEFs and on gelatin in serum-containing medium,and the culture of hESCs in defined media on both mEFs (hESC culture medium) and Matrigel (mTeSR). These basic protocols are intended for researchers wanting to develop stem cell research in their labs. These protocols have been tested in our laboratory and work well. They can be modified and adapted for any relevant user's particular purpose. View Publication

The conversion of lineage-committed cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by reprogramming is accompanied by a global remodeling of the epigenome,resulting in altered patterns of gene expression. Here we characterize the transcriptional reorganization of large intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) that occurs upon derivation of human iPSCs and identify numerous lincRNAs whose expression is linked to pluripotency. Among these,we defined ten lincRNAs whose expression was elevated in iPSCs compared with embryonic stem cells,suggesting that their activation may promote the emergence of iPSCs. Supporting this,our results indicate that these lincRNAs are direct targets of key pluripotency transcription factors. Using loss-of-function and gain-of-function approaches,we found that one such lincRNA (lincRNA-RoR) modulates reprogramming,thus providing a first demonstration for critical functions of lincRNAs in the derivation of pluripotent stem cells. View Publication

In hereditary hemochromatosis,mutations in HFE lead to iron overload through abnormally low levels of hepcidin. In addition,HFE potentially modulates cellular iron uptake by interacting with transferrin receptor,a crucial protein during erythropoiesis. However,the role of HFE in this process was never explored. We hypothesize that HFE modulates erythropoiesis by affecting dietary iron absorption and erythroid iron intake. To investigate this,we used Hfe-KO mice in conditions of altered dietary iron and erythropoiesis. We show that Hfe-KO mice can overcome phlebotomy-induced anemia more rapidly than wild-type mice (even when iron loaded). Second,we evaluated mice combining the hemochromatosis and β-thalassemia phenotypes. Our results suggest that lack of Hfe is advantageous in conditions of increased erythropoietic activity because of augmented iron mobilization driven by deficient hepcidin response. Lastly,we demonstrate that Hfe is expressed in erythroid cells and impairs iron uptake,whereas its absence exclusively from the hematopoietic compartment is sufficient to accelerate recovery from phlebotomy. In summary,we demonstrate that Hfe influences erythropoiesis by 2 distinct mechanisms: limiting hepcidin expression under conditions of simultaneous iron overload and stress erythropoiesis,and impairing transferrin-bound iron uptake by erythroid cells. Moreover,our results provide novel suggestions to improve the treatment of hemochromatosis. View Publication

Differentiated neurons can be rapidly acquired,within days,by inducing stem cells to express neurogenic transcription factors. We developed a protocol to maintain long-term cultures of human neurons,called iNGNs,which are obtained by inducing Neurogenin-1 and Neurogenin-2 expression in induced pluripotent stem cells. We followed the functional development of iNGNs over months and they showed many hallmark properties for neuronal maturation,including robust electrical and synaptic activity. Using iNGNs expressing a variant of channelrhodopsin-2,called CatCh,we could control iNGN activity with blue light stimulation. In combination with optogenetic tools,iNGNs offer opportunities for studies that require precise spatial and temporal resolution. iNGNs developed spontaneous network activity,and these networks had excitatory glutamatergic synapses,which we characterized with single-cell synaptic recordings. AMPA glutamatergic receptor activity was especially dominant in postsynaptic recordings,whereas NMDA glutamatergic receptor activity was absent from postsynaptic recordings but present in extrasynaptic recordings. Our results on long-term cultures of iNGNs could help in future studies elucidating mechanisms of human synaptogenesis and neurotransmission,along with the ability to scale-up the size of the cultures. View Publication

Despite the high incidence of trophoblast-related diseases,the molecular mechanism of inadequate early trophoblast development is still unclear due to the lack of an appropriate cellular model in vitro. In the present study,we reprogrammed the amniotic cells to be induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) via a non-virus and non-integrated method and subsequently differentiated them into trophoblast-like cells by a modified BMP4 strategy in E6 medium. Compared with the previously studied trophoblast-like cells from ESCs,the iPSCs derived trophoblast-like cells behave similarly in terms of gene expression profiles and biofunctions. Also we confirmed the differentiating tendency from iPSCs to be syncytiotrophoblasts-like cells might be caused by inappropriate differentiating oxygen condition. Additionally,we preliminarily indicated in vitro artificial" differentiation of iPSCs also undergoing a possible trophoblastic stem cell stage as witnessed in vivo. In conclusion we provided an in vitro cellular model to study early trophoblast development for specific individual by using the feasible amnion. View Publication

BACKGROUND Single-cell RNA-Seq can be a valuable and unbiased tool to dissect cellular heterogeneity,despite the transcriptome's limitations in describing higher functional phenotypes and protein events. Perhaps the most important shortfall with transcriptomic 'snapshots' of cell populations is that they risk being descriptive,only cataloging heterogeneity at one point in time,and without microenvironmental context. Studying the genetic ('nature') and environmental ('nurture') modifiers of heterogeneity,and how cell population dynamics unfold over time in response to these modifiers is key when studying highly plastic cells such as macrophages. RESULTS We introduce the programmable Polaris microfluidic lab-on-chip for single-cell sequencing,which performs live-cell imaging while controlling for the culture microenvironment of each cell. Using gene-edited macrophages we demonstrate how previously unappreciated knockout effects of SAMHD1,such as an altered oxidative stress response,have a large paracrine signaling component. Furthermore,we demonstrate single-cell pathway enrichments for cell cycle arrest and APOBEC3G degradation,both associated with the oxidative stress response and altered proteostasis. Interestingly,SAMHD1 and APOBEC3G are both HIV-1 inhibitors ('restriction factors'),with no known co-regulation. CONCLUSION As single-cell methods continue to mature,so will the ability to move beyond simple 'snapshots' of cell populations towards studying the determinants of population dynamics. By combining single-cell culture,live-cell imaging,and single-cell sequencing,we have demonstrated the ability to study cell phenotypes and microenvironmental influences. It's these microenvironmental components - ignored by standard single-cell workflows - that likely determine how macrophages,for example,react to inflammation and form treatment resistant HIV reservoirs. View Publication