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UNLABELLED Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is a major cause of central nervous system structural anomalies and sensory impairments. It is likely that the stage of fetal development,as well as the state of differentiation of susceptible cells at the time of infection,affects the severity of the disease. We used human embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived primitive prerosette neural stem cells (pNSCs) and neural progenitor cells (NPCs) maintained in chemically defined conditions to study HCMV replication in cells at the early stages of neural development. In contrast to what was observed previously using fetus-derived NPCs,infection of ES cell-derived pNSCs with HCMV was nonprogressive. At a low multiplicity of infection,we observed only a small percentage of cells expressing immediate-early genes (IE) and early genes. IE expression was found to be restricted to cells negative for the anterior marker FORSE-1,and treatment of pNSCs with retinoic acid restored IE expression. Differentiation of pNSCs into NPCs restored IE expression but not the transactivation of early genes. Virions produced in NPCs and pNSCs were exclusively cell associated and were mostly non-neural tropic. Finally,we found that viral genomes could persist in pNSC cultures for up to a month after infection despite the absence of detectable IE expression by immunofluorescence,and infectious virus could be produced upon differentiation of pNSCs to neurons. In conclusion,our results highlight the complex array of hurdles that HCMV must overcome in order to infect primitive neural stem cells and suggest that these cells might act as a reservoir for the virus. IMPORTANCE Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a betaherpesvirus that is highly prevalent in the population. HCMV infection is usually asymptomatic but can lead to severe consequences in immunosuppressed individuals. HCMV is also the most important infectious cause of congenital developmental birth defects. Manifestations of fetal HCMV disease range from deafness and learning disabilities to more severe symptoms such as microcephaly. In this study,we have used embryonic stem cells to generate primitive neural stem cells and have used these to model HCMV infection of the fetal central nervous system (CNS) in vitro. Our results reveal that these cells,which are similar to those present in the developing neural tube,do not support viral replication but instead likely constitute a viral reservoir. Future work will define the effect of viral persistence on cellular functions as well as the exogenous signals leading to the reactivation of viral replication in the CNS. View Publication

Ring chromosomes are structural aberrations commonly associated with birth defects,mental disabilities and growth retardation. Rings form after fusion of the long and short arms of a chromosome,and are sometimes associated with large terminal deletions. Owing to the severity of these large aberrations that can affect multiple contiguous genes,no possible therapeutic strategies for ring chromosome disorders have been proposed. During cell division,ring chromosomes can exhibit unstable behaviour leading to continuous production of aneuploid progeny with low viability and high cellular death rate. The overall consequences of this chromosomal instability have been largely unexplored in experimental model systems. Here we generated human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from patient fibroblasts containing ring chromosomes with large deletions and found that reprogrammed cells lost the abnormal chromosome and duplicated the wild-type homologue through the compensatory uniparental disomy (UPD) mechanism. The karyotypically normal iPSCs with isodisomy for the corrected chromosome outgrew co-existing aneuploid populations,enabling rapid and efficient isolation of patient-derived iPSCs devoid of the original chromosomal aberration. Our results suggest a fundamentally different function for cellular reprogramming as a means of /`chromosome therapy/' to reverse combined loss-of-function across many genes in cells with large-scale aberrations involving ring structures. In addition,our work provides an experimentally tractable human cellular system for studying mechanisms of chromosomal number control,which is of critical relevance to human development and disease. View Publication

The hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) are a heterogeneous group of motorneuron diseases characterized by progressive spasticity and paresis of the lower limbs. Mutations in Spastic Gait 4 (SPG4),encoding spastin,are the most frequent cause of HSP. To understand how mutations in SPG4 affect human neurons,we generated human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from fibroblasts of two patients carrying a c.1684CtextgreaterT nonsense mutation and from two controls. These SPG4 and control hiPSCs were able to differentiate into neurons and glia at comparable efficiency. All known spastin isoforms were reduced in SPG4 neuronal cells. The complexity of SPG4 neurites was decreased,which was paralleled by an imbalance of axonal transport with less retrograde movement. Prominent neurite swellings with disrupted microtubules were present in SPG4 neurons at an ultrastructural level. While some of these swellings contain acetylated and detyrosinated tubulin,these tubulin modifications were unchanged in total cell lysates of SPG4 neurons. Upregulation of another microtubule-severing protein,p60 katanin,may partially compensate for microtubuli dynamics in SPG4 neurons. Overexpression of the M1 or M87 spastin isoforms restored neurite length,branching,numbers of primary neurites and reduced swellings in SPG4 neuronal cells. We conclude that neurite complexity and maintenance in HSP patient-derived neurons are critically sensitive to spastin gene dosage. Our data show that elevation of single spastin isoform levels is sufficient to restore neurite complexity and reduce neurite swellings in patient cells. Furthermore,our human model offers an ideal platform for pharmacological screenings with the goal to restore physiological spastin levels in SPG4 patients. View Publication

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a severe neurodegenerative condition characterized by loss of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Expansions of a hexanucleotide repeat (GGGGCC) in the noncoding region of the C9ORF72 gene are the most common cause of the familial form of ALS (C9-ALS),as well as frontotemporal lobar degeneration and other neurological diseases. How the repeat expansion causes disease remains unclear,with both loss of function (haploinsufficiency) and gain of function (either toxic RNA or protein products) proposed. We report a cellular model of C9-ALS with motor neurons differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from ALS patients carrying the C9ORF72 repeat expansion. No significant loss of C9ORF72 expression was observed,and knockdown of the transcript was not toxic to cultured human motor neurons. Transcription of the repeat was increased,leading to accumulation of GGGGCC repeat-containing RNA foci selectively in C9-ALS iPSC-derived motor neurons. Repeat-containing RNA foci colocalized with hnRNPA1 and Pur-α,suggesting that they may be able to alter RNA metabolism. C9-ALS motor neurons showed altered expression of genes involved in membrane excitability including DPP6,and demonstrated a diminished capacity to fire continuous spikes upon depolarization compared to control motor neurons. Antisense oligonucleotides targeting the C9ORF72 transcript suppressed RNA foci formation and reversed gene expression alterations in C9-ALS motor neurons. These data show that patient-derived motor neurons can be used to delineate pathogenic events in ALS. View Publication

BACKGROUND Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection,a leading cause of birth defects,is most often manifested as neurological disorders. The pathogenesis of HCMV-induced neurological disorders is,however,largely unresolved,primarily because of limited availability of model systems to analyze the effects of HCMV infection on neural cells. METHODS An induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line was established from the human fibroblast line MRC5 by introducing the Yamanaka's four factors and then induced to differentiate into neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) by dual inhibition of the SMAD signaling pathway using Noggin and SB-431542. RESULTS iPSC-derived NSPCs (NSPC/iPSCs) were susceptible to HCMV infection and allowed the expression of both early and late viral gene products. HCMV-infected NSPC/iPSCs underwent apoptosis with the activation of caspase-3 and -9 as well as positive staining by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL). Cytochrome c release from mitochondria to cytosol was observed in these cells,indicating the involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction in their apoptosis. In addition,phosphorylation of proteins involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR),such as PKR-like eukaryotic initiation factor 2a kinase (PERK),c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK),inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1),and the alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2$$) was observed in HCMV-infected NSPC/iPSCs. These results,coupled with the finding of increased expression of mRNA encoding the C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP) and the detection of a spliced form of X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) mRNA,suggest that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is also involved in HCMV-induced apoptosis of these cells. CONCLUSIONS iPSC-derived NSPCs are thought to be a useful model to study HCMV neuropathogenesis and to analyze the mechanisms of HCMV-induced apoptosis in neural cells. View Publication

Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) has been identified in stem cells from both normal and cancerous tissues. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of ALDH as a universal brain tumour initiating cell (BTIC) marker applicable to primary brain tumours and their biological role in maintaining stem cell status. Cells from various primary brain tumours (24paediatric and 6 adult brain tumours) were stained with Aldefluor and sorted by flow cytometry. We investigated the impact of ALDH expression on BTIC characteristics in vitro and on tumourigenic potential in vivo. Primary brain tumours showed universal expression of ALDH,with 0.3-28.9% of the cells in various tumours identified as ALDH(+). The proportion of CD133(+) cells within ALDH(+) is higher than ALDH cells. ALDH(+) cells generate neurospheres with high proliferative potential,express neural stem cell markers and differentiate into multiple nervous system lineages. ALDH(+) cells tend to show high expression of induced pluripotent stem cell-related genes. Notably,targeted knockdown of ALDH1 by shRNA interference in BTICs potently disturbed their self-renewing ability. After 3months,ALDH(+) cells gave rise to tumours in 93% of mice whereas ALDH cells did not. The characteristic pathology of mice brain tumours from ALDH(+) cells was similar to that of human brain tumours,and these cells are highly proliferative in vivo. Our data suggest that primary brain tumours contain distinct subpopulations of cells that have high expression levels of ALDH and BTIC characteristics. ALDH might be a potential therapeutic target applicable to primary brain tumours. View Publication

Summary Rett syndrome (RTT) is caused by mutations of MECP2,a methyl CpG binding protein thought to act as a global transcriptional repressor. Here we show,using an isogenic human embryonic stem cell model of RTT,that MECP2 mutant neurons display key molecular and cellular features of this disorder. Unbiased global gene expression analyses demonstrate that MECP2 functions as a global activator in neurons but not in neural precursors. Decreased transcription in neurons was coupled with a significant reduction in nascent protein synthesis and lack of MECP2 was manifested as a severe defect in the activity of the AKT/mTOR pathway. Lack of MECP2 also leads to impaired mitochondrial function in mutant neurons. Activation of AKT/mTOR signaling by exogenous growth factors or by depletion of PTEN boosted protein synthesis and ameliorated disease phenotypes in mutant neurons. Our findings indicate a vital function for MECP2 in maintaining active gene transcription in human neuronal cells. View Publication

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is among the most prevalent forms of dementia affecting the aging population,and pharmacological therapies to date have not been successful in preventing disease progression. Future therapeutic efforts may benefit from the development of models that enable basic investigation of early disease pathology. In particular,disease-relevant models based on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) may be promising approaches to assess the impact of neurotoxic agents in AD on specific neuronal populations and thereby facilitate the development of novel interventions to avert early disease mechanisms. We implemented an efficient paradigm to convert hPSCs into enriched populations of cortical glutamatergic neurons emerging from dorsal forebrain neural progenitors,aided by modulating Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling. Since AD is generally known to be toxic to glutamatergic circuits,we exposed glutamatergic neurons derived from hESCs to an oligomeric pre-fibrillar forms of Aβ known as globulomers"� View Publication

INTRODUCTION: Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability,but treatment options are severely limited. Cell therapy offers an attractive strategy for regenerating lost tissues and enhancing the endogenous healing process. In this study,we investigated the use of human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors as a cell therapy in a murine stroke model.backslashnbackslashnMETHODS: Neural precursors were derived from human embryonic stem cells by using a fully adherent SMAD inhibition protocol employing small molecules. The efficiency of neural induction and the ability of these cells to further differentiate into neurons were assessed by using immunocytochemistry. Whole-cell patch-clamp recording was used to demonstrate the electrophysiological activity of human embryonic stem cell-derived neurons. Neural precursors were transplanted into the core and penumbra regions of a focal ischemic stroke in the barrel cortex of mice. Animals received injections of bromodeoxyuridine to track regeneration. Neural differentiation of the transplanted cells and regenerative markers were measured by using immunohistochemistry. The adhesive removal test was used to determine functional improvement after stroke and intervention.backslashnbackslashnRESULTS: After 11 days of neural induction by using the small-molecule protocol,over 95% of human embryonic stem-derived cells expressed at least one neural marker. Further in vitro differentiation yielded cells that stained for mature neuronal markers and exhibited high-amplitude,repetitive action potentials in response to depolarization. Neuronal differentiation also occurred after transplantation into the ischemic cortex. A greater level of bromodeoxyuridine co-localization with neurons was observed in the penumbra region of animals receiving cell transplantation. Transplantation also improved sensory recovery in transplant animals over that in control animals.backslashnbackslashnCONCLUSIONS: Human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors derived by using a highly efficient small-molecule SMAD inhibition protocol can differentiate into electrophysiologically functional neurons in vitro. These cells also differentiate into neurons in vivo,enhance regenerative activities,and improve sensory recovery after ischemic stroke. View Publication

Purine biosynthesis and metabolism,conserved in all living organisms,is essential for cellular energy homeostasis and nucleic acid synthesis. The de novo synthesis of purine precursors is under tight negative feedback regulation mediated by adenosine and guanine nucleotides. We describe a distinct early-onset neurodegenerative condition resulting from mutations in the adenosine monophosphate deaminase 2 gene (AMPD2). Patients have characteristic brain imaging features of pontocerebellar hypoplasia (PCH) due to loss of brainstem and cerebellar parenchyma. We found that AMPD2 plays an evolutionary conserved role in the maintenance of cellular guanine nucleotide pools by regulating the feedback inhibition of adenosine derivatives on de novo purine synthesis. AMPD2 deficiency results in defective GTP-dependent initiation of protein translation,which can be rescued by administration of purine precursors. These data suggest AMPD2-related PCH as a potentially treatable early-onset neurodegenerative disease. ?? 2013 Elsevier Inc. View Publication

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are emerging as an attractive alternative source for cell replacement therapy since the cells can be expanded in culture indefinitely and differentiated into any cell types in the body. In order to optimize cell-to-cell interaction,cell proliferation and differentiation into specific lineages as well as tissue organization,it is important to provide a microenvironment for the hESCs which mimics the stem cell niche. One approach is to provide a three-dimensional (3D) environment such as encapsulation. We present an approach to culture and differentiate hESCs into midbrain dopamine (mdDA) neurons in a 3D microenvironment using alginate microcapsules for the first time. A detailed gene and protein expression analysis during neuronal differentiation showed an increased gene and protein expression of various specific DA neuronal markers,particularly tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) by textgreater100 folds after 2weeks and at least 50% higher expression after 4weeks respectively,compared to cells differentiated under conventional two-dimensional (2D) platform. The encapsulated TH+ cells co-expressed mdDA neuronal markers,forkhead box protein A-2 (FOXA2) and pituitary homeobox-3 (PITX3) after 4weeks and secreted approximately 60pg/ml/106 cells higher DA level when induced. We propose that the 3D platform facilitated an early onset of DA neuronal generation compared to that with conventional 2D system which also secretes more DA under potassium-induction. It is a very useful model to study the proliferation and directed differentiation of hESCs to various lineages,particularly to mdDA neurons. This 3D system also allows the separation of feeder cells from hESCs during the process of differentiation and also has potential for immune-isolation during transplantation studies. ?? 2013 Elsevier B.V. View Publication

Development of therapeutics for genetically complex neurodegenerative diseases such as sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has largely been hampered by lack of relevant disease models. Reprogramming of sporadic ALS patients' fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and differentiation into affected neurons that show a disease phenotype could provide a cellular model for disease mechanism studies and drug discovery. Here we report the reprogramming to pluripotency of fibroblasts from a large cohort of healthy controls and ALS patients and their differentiation into motor neurons. We demonstrate that motor neurons derived from three sALS patients show de novo TDP-43 aggregation and that the aggregates recapitulate pathology in postmortem tissue from one of the same patients from which the iPSC were derived. We configured a high-content chemical screen using the TDP-43 aggregate endpoint both in lower motor neurons and upper motor neuron like cells and identified FDA-approved small molecule modulators including Digoxin demonstrating the feasibility of patient-derived iPSC-based disease modeling for drug screening. View Publication