技术资料

Progress toward finding a cure for muscle diseases has been slow because of the absence of relevant cellular models and the lack of a reliable source of muscle progenitors for biomedical investigation. Here we report an optimized serum-free differentiation protocol to efficiently produce striated,millimeter-long muscle fibers together with satellite-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in vitro. By mimicking key signaling events leading to muscle formation in the embryo,in particular the dual modulation of Wnt and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) pathway signaling,this directed differentiation protocol avoids the requirement for genetic modifications or cell sorting. Robust myogenesis can be achieved in vitro within 1 month by personnel experienced in hPSC culture. The differentiating culture can be subcultured to produce large amounts of myogenic progenitors amenable to numerous downstream applications. Beyond the study of myogenesis,this differentiation method offers an attractive platform for the development of relevant in vitro models of muscle dystrophies and drug screening strategies,as well as providing a source of cells for tissue engineering and cell therapy approaches. View Publication

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS Endothelial cells (ECs) play an essential role in pancreatic organogenesis. We hypothesise that effective in vitro interactions between human microvascular endothelial cells (HMECs) and human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) results in the generation of functional pancreatic beta cells. METHODS Embryoid bodies (EBs) derived from hPSCs were cultured alone (controls) or with ECs in collagen gels. Subsequently,cells were analysed for pancreatic beta cell markers,and then isolated and expanded. Insulin secretion in response to glucose was evaluated in vitro by static and dynamic (perifusion) assays,and in vivo by EB transplantation into immunodeficient mice. RESULTS Co-cultured EBs had a higher expression of mature beta cells markers and enhanced insulin secretion in vitro,compared with controls. In mice,transplanted EBs had higher levels of human C-peptide secretion with a significant reduction in hyperglycaemia after the selective destruction of native pancreatic beta cells. In addition,there was significant in vitro upregulation of bone morphogenetic proteins 2 and 4 (BMP-2,4) in co-cultured cells,compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION ECs provide essential signalling in vitro,such as activation of the BMP pathway,for derivation of functional insulin-producing beta cells from hPSCs. View Publication

Huntington's disease is caused by expanded CAG repeats in HTT,conferring toxic gain of function on mutant HTT (mHTT) protein. Reducing mHTT amounts is postulated as a strategy for therapeutic intervention. We conducted genome-wide RNA interference screens for genes modifying mHTT abundance and identified 13 hits. We tested 10 in vivo in a Drosophila melanogaster Huntington's disease model,and 6 exhibited activity consistent with the in vitro screening results. Among these,negative regulator of ubiquitin-like protein 1 (NUB1) overexpression lowered mHTT in neuronal models and rescued mHTT-induced death. NUB1 reduces mHTT amounts by enhancing polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of mHTT protein. The process requires CUL3 and the ubiquitin-like protein NEDD8 necessary for CUL3 activation. As a potential approach to modulating NUB1 for treatment,interferon-β lowered mHTT and rescued neuronal toxicity through induction of NUB1. Thus,we have identified genes modifying endogenous mHTT using high-throughput screening and demonstrate NUB1 as an exemplar entry point for therapeutic intervention of Huntington's disease. View Publication

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have the potential to provide an infinite source of tissues for regenerative medicine. Although defined xeno-free media have been developed,culture conditions for reliable propagation of hESCs still require considerable improvement. Here we show that recombinant E8 fragments of laminin isoforms (LM-E8s),which are the minimum fragments conferring integrin-binding activity,promote greater adhesion of hESCs and hiPSCs than do Matrigel and intact laminin isoforms. Furthermore,LM-E8s sustain long-term self-renewal of hESCs and hiPSCs in defined xeno-free media with dissociated cell passaging. We successfully maintained three hESC and two hiPSC lines on LM-E8s in three defined media for 10 passages. hESCs maintained high level expression of pluripotency markers,had a normal karyotype after 30 passages and could differentiate into all three germ layers. This culture system allows robust proliferation of hESCs and hiPSCs for therapeutic applications. View Publication

Human neural stem cells hold great promise for research and therapy in neural disease. We describe the generation of integration-free and expandable human neural progenitor cells (NPCs). We combined an episomal system to deliver reprogramming factors with a chemically defined culture medium to reprogram epithelial-like cells from human urine into NPCs (hUiNPCs). These transgene-free hUiNPCs can self-renew and can differentiate into multiple functional neuronal subtypes and glial cells in vitro. Although functional in vivo analysis is still needed,we report that the cells survive and differentiate upon transplant into newborn rat brain. View Publication

The use of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in cell therapy is hindered by the tumorigenic risk from residual undifferentiated cells. Here we performed a high-throughput screen of over 52,000 small molecules and identified 15 pluripotent cell-specific inhibitors (PluriSIns),nine of which share a common structural moiety. The PluriSIns selectively eliminated hPSCs while sparing a large array of progenitor and differentiated cells. Cellular and molecular analyses demonstrated that the most selective compound,PluriSIn 1,induces ER stress,protein synthesis attenuation,and apoptosis in hPSCs. Close examination identified this molecule as an inhibitor of stearoyl-coA desaturase (SCD1),the key enzyme in oleic acid biosynthesis,revealing a unique role for lipid metabolism in hPSCs. PluriSIn 1 was also cytotoxic to mouse blastocysts,indicating that the dependence on oleate is inherent to the pluripotent state. Finally,application of PluriSIn 1 prevented teratoma formation from tumorigenic undifferentiated cells. These findings should increase the safety of hPSC-based treatments. ?? 2013 Elsevier Inc. View Publication

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 (backslashtextgreater85%) 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. View Publication

Human ES cells (hESC) exposed to bone morphogenic protein 4 (BMP4) in the absence of FGF2 have become widely used for studying trophoblast development,but the soundness of this model has been challenged by others,who concluded that differentiation was primarily toward mesoderm rather than trophoblast. Here we confirm that hESC grown under the standard conditions on a medium conditioned by mouse embryonic fibroblasts in the presence of BMP4 and absence of FGF2 on a Matrigel substratum rapidly convert to an epithelium that is largely KRT7+ within 48 h,with minimal expression of mesoderm markers,including T (Brachyury). Instead,they begin to express a series of trophoblast markers,including HLA-G,demonstrate invasive properties that are independent of the continued presence of BMP4 in the medium,and,over time,produce extensive amounts of human chorionic gonadotropin,progesterone,placental growth factor,and placental lactogen. This process of differentiation is not dependent on conditioning of the medium by mouse embryonic fibroblasts and is accelerated in the presence of inhibitors of Activin and FGF2 signaling,which at day 2 provide colonies that are entirely KRT7+ and in which the majority of cells are transiently CDX2+. Colonies grown on two chemically defined media,including the one in which BMP4 was reported to drive mesoderm formation,also differentiate at least partially to trophoblast in response to BMP4. The experiments demonstrate that the in vitro BMP4/hESC model is valid for studying the emergence and differentiation of trophoblasts. View Publication

We report that a single growth factor,NM23-H1,enables serial passaging of both human ES and iPS cells in the absence of feeder cells,their conditioned media or bFGF in a fully defined xeno-free media on a novel defined,xeno-free surface. Stem cells cultured in this system show a gene expression pattern indicative of a more naïve" state than stem cells grown in bFGF-based media. NM23-H1 and MUC1* growth factor receptor cooperate to control stem cell self-replication. By manipulating the multimerization state of NM23-H1� View Publication

In this study,we sought to establish a novel method to prospectively and dynamically identify live human oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) and oligodendrocyte lineage cells from brain dissociates and pluripotent stem cell culture. We selected a highly conserved enhancer element of the Sox10 gene,known as MCS5,which directs reporter expression to oligodendrocyte lineage cells in mouse and zebrafish. We demonstrate that lentiviral Sox10-MCS5 induced expression of GFP at high levels in a subpopulation of human CD140a/PDGF??R-sorted OPCs as well as their immature oligodendrocyte progeny. Furthermore,we show that almost all Sox10-MCS5:GFPhigh cells expressed OPC antigen CD140a and human OPCs expressing SOX10,OLIG2,and PDGFRA mRNAs could be prospectively identified using GFP based fluorescence activated cells sorting alone. Additionally,we established a human induced pluripotent cell (iPSC) line transduced with the Sox10-MCS5:GFP reporter using a Rex-Neo cassette. Similar to human primary cells,GFP expression was restricted to embryoid bodies containing both oligodendrocyte progenitor and oligodendrocyte cells and co-localized with NG2 and O4-positive cells respectively. As such,we have developed a novel reporter system that can track oligodendrocyte commitment in human cells,establishing a valuable tool to improve our understanding and efficiency of human oligodendrocyte derivation. ?? 2013 Elsevier Inc. View Publication

The main motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease are due to the loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the ventral midbrain (VM). For the future treatment of Parkinson's disease with cell transplantation it is important to develop efficient differentiation methods for production of human iPSCs and hESCs-derived midbrain-type DA neurons. Here we describe an efficient differentiation and sorting strategy for DA neurons from both human ES/iPS cells and non-human primate iPSCs. The use of non-human primate iPSCs for neuronal differentiation and autologous transplantation is important for preclinical evaluation of safety and efficacy of stem cell-derived DA neurons. The aim of this study was to improve the safety of human- and non-human primate iPSC (PiPSC)-derived DA neurons. According to our results,NCAM(+) /CD29(low) sorting enriched VM DA neurons from pluripotent stem cell-derived neural cell populations. NCAM(+) /CD29(low) DA neurons were positive for FOXA2/TH and EN1/TH and this cell population had increased expression levels of FOXA2,LMX1A,TH,GIRK2,PITX3,EN1,NURR1 mRNA compared to unsorted neural cell populations. PiPSC-derived NCAM(+) /CD29(low) DA neurons were able to restore motor function of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned rats 16 weeks after transplantation. The transplanted sorted cells also integrated in the rodent brain tissue,with robust TH+/hNCAM+ neuritic innervation of the host striatum. One year after autologous transplantation,the primate iPSC-derived neural cells survived in the striatum of one primate without any immunosuppression. These neural cell grafts contained FOXA2/TH-positive neurons in the graft site. This is an important proof of concept for the feasibility and safety of iPSC-derived cell transplantation therapies in the future. View Publication

Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) provides a unique opportunity to study the regulatory mechanisms that facilitate cellular transitions in a human context. To that end,we performed comprehensive transcriptional and epigenetic profiling of populations derived through directed differentiation of hESCs representing each of the three embryonic germ layers. Integration of whole-genome bisulfite sequencing,chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing,and RNA sequencing reveals unique events associated with specification toward each lineage. Lineage-specific dynamic alterations in DNA methylation and H3K4me1 are evident at putative distal regulatory elements that are frequently bound by pluripotency factors in the undifferentiated hESCs. In addition,we identified germ-layer-specific H3K27me3 enrichment at sites exhibiting high DNA methylation in the undifferentiated state. A better understanding of these initial specification events will facilitate identification of deficiencies in current approaches,leading to more faithful differentiation strategies as well as providing insights into the rewiring of human regulatory programs during cellular transitions. ?? 2013 Elsevier Inc. View Publication