技术资料

Human embryonic stem cells hold great promise in furthering our treatment of disease and increasing our understanding of early development. This chapter describes protocols for the derivation and maintenance of human embryonic stem cells. In addition,it summarizes briefly several alternative methods for the culture of human embryonic stem cells. Thus,this chapter provides a good starting point for researchers interested in harnessing the potential of human embryonic stem cells. View Publication

The amyloid-beta precursor protein (AbetaPP) is a ubiquitously expressed adhesion and neuritogenic protein whose processing has previously been shown to be regulated by reproductive hormones including the gonadotropin luteinizing hormone (LH) in human neuroblastoma cells. We report for the first time the expression of AbetaPP in human embryonic stem (hES) cells at the mRNA and protein levels. Using N- and C-terminal antibodies against AbetaPP,we detected both the mature and immature forms of AbetaPP as well as truncated variants ( approximately 53kDa,47kDa,and 29kDa) by immunoblot analyses. Expression of AbetaPP is regulated by both the stemness of the cells and pregnancy-associated hormones. Addition of human chorionic gonadotropin,the fetal equivalent of LH that is dramatically elevated during pregnancy,markedly increased the expression of all AbetaPP forms. These results indicate a critical molecular signaling link between the hormonal environment of pregnancy and the expression of AbetaPP in hES cells that is suggestive of an important function for this protein during early human embryogenesis prior to the formation of neural precursor cells. View Publication

We have previously shown that coculture of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) for 14 days with immortalized fetal hepatocytes yields CD34(+) cells that can be expanded in serum-free liquid culture into large numbers of megaloblastic nucleated erythroblasts resembling yolk sac-derived cells. We show here that these primitive erythroblasts undergo a switch in hemoglobin (Hb) composition during late terminal erythroid maturation with the basophilic erythroblasts expressing predominantly Hb Gower I (zeta(2)epsilon(2)) and the orthochromatic erythroblasts hemoglobin Gower II (alpha(2)epsilon(2)). This suggests that the switch from Hb Gower I to Hb Gower II,the first hemoglobin switch in humans is a maturation switch not a lineage switch. We also show that extending the coculture of the hESCs with immortalized fetal hepatocytes to 35 days yields CD34(+) cells that differentiate into more developmentally mature,fetal liver-like erythroblasts,that are smaller,express mostly fetal hemoglobin,and can enucleate. We conclude that hESC-derived erythropoiesis closely mimics early human development because the first 2 human hemoglobin switches are recapitulated,and because yolk sac-like and fetal liver-like cells are sequentially produced. Development of a method that yields erythroid cells with an adult phenotype remains necessary,because the most mature cells that can be produced with current systems express less than 2% adult beta-globin mRNA. View Publication

Pluripotency pertains to the cells of early embryos that can generate all of the tissues in the organism. Embryonic stem cells are embryo-derived cell lines that retain pluripotency and represent invaluable tools for research into the mechanisms of tissue formation. Recently,murine fibroblasts have been reprogrammed directly to pluripotency by ectopic expression of four transcription factors (Oct4,Sox2,Klf4 and Myc) to yield induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Using these same factors,we have derived iPS cells from fetal,neonatal and adult human primary cells,including dermal fibroblasts isolated from a skin biopsy of a healthy research subject. Human iPS cells resemble embryonic stem cells in morphology and gene expression and in the capacity to form teratomas in immune-deficient mice. These data demonstrate that defined factors can reprogramme human cells to pluripotency,and establish a method whereby patient-specific cells might be established in culture. View Publication

AIM: To determine whether transcriptional reprogramming is capable of reversing the developmental aging of normal human somatic cells to an embryonic state. MATERIALS & METHODS: An isogenic system was utilized to facilitate an accurate assessment of the reprogramming of telomere restriction fragment (TRF) length of aged differentiated cells to that of the human embryonic stem (hES) cell line from which they were originally derived. An hES-derived mortal clonal cell strain EN13 was reprogrammed by SOX2,OCT4 and KLF4. The six resulting induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines were surveyed for telomere length,telomerase activity and telomere-related gene expression. In addition,we measured all these parameters in widely-used hES and iPS cell lines and compared the results to those obtained in the six new isogenic iPS cell lines. RESULTS: We observed variable but relatively long TRF lengths in three widely studied hES cell lines (16.09-21.1 kb) but markedly shorter TRF lengths (6.4-12.6 kb) in five similarly widely studied iPS cell lines. Transcriptome analysis comparing these hES and iPS cell lines showed modest variation in a small subset of genes implicated in telomere length regulation. However,iPS cell lines consistently showed reduced levels of telomerase activity compared with hES cell lines. In order to verify these results in an isogenic background,we generated six iPS cell clones from the hES-derived cell line EN13. These iPS cell clones showed initial telomere lengths comparable to the parental EN13 cells,had telomerase activity,expressed embryonic stem cell markers and had a telomere-related transcriptome similar to hES cells. Subsequent culture of five out of six lines generally showed telomere shortening to lengths similar to that observed in the widely distributed iPS lines. However,the clone EH3,with relatively high levels of telomerase activity,progressively increased TRF length over 60 days of serial culture back to that of the parental hES cell line. CONCLUSION: Prematurely aged (shortened) telomeres appears to be a common feature of iPS cells created by current pluripotency protocols. However,the spontaneous appearance of lines that express sufficient telomerase activity to extend telomere length may allow the reversal of developmental aging in human cells for use in regenerative medicine. View Publication

Autologous feeder cells have been developed by various methods to minimize the presence of xenogenic entities in human embryonic stem cell (hESC) cultures. However,there was no systematic comparison of supportive effects of the feeder cells on hESC growth,nor comparison to the supportive effects of various feeder-free culture systems and standard mouse feeder cells. In this study,we aimed to compare the supportive abilities of autologous feeders derived either directly from H9 hESCs (H9 dF) or from outgrowth of embryoid body predifferentiated in suspension from H9 hESCs (H9 ebF). Mouse feeder system and matrigel-mTeSR1 feeder-free system were used as controls. H9 ebF was found to secrete more basic fibroblast growth factor in the conditioned medium than H9 dF did. The undifferentiated state of H9 hESCs was sustained more stably on H9 ebF than on H9 dF,and the differentiation potential of H9 hESCs on H9 ebF was higher than on H9 dF. We concluded that H9 ebF was an optimal autologous feeder to maintain the long-term undifferentiated state of hESCs in our current culture system. This study helps to standardize the autologous culture of hESCs. It also suggests a more definite direction for future development of xeno-free culture system for hESCs. View Publication

Since mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells was first derived in 1981,the ability of this unprecedented cell type to self-renew and differentiate without limit has revolutionized the discovery tools that are used to study gene functions and development. Furthermore,they have inspired others to hunt for similar cells from other species. The derivation of human ES cells in 1998 has accelerated these discoveries and has also widely provoked public interest,due to both the scientific significance of these cells for human tissue regeneration and the ethical disputes over the use of donated early human embryos. However,this is no longer a barrier,with the recent discovery of methods that can convert differentiated somatic cells into ES-like cells or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells,by using defined reprogramming factors. This review attempts to summarize the progresses in the derivation of ES cells (as well as other embryo-derived pluripotent cells) and iPS cells from various species. We will focus on the molecular and biological features of the cells,as well as the different determinants identified thus far to sustain their pluripotency. View Publication

Since their derivation 11 years ago,human embryonic stem (hES) cells have become a powerful tool in both basic biomedical research and developmental biology. Their capacity for self-renewal and differentiation into any tissue type has also brought interest from fields such as cell therapy and drug screening. We conducted an extensive analysis of 750 papers (51% of the total published about hES cells between 1998 and 2008) to present a spectrum of hES cell research including culture protocols developed worldwide. This review may stimulate discussions about the importance of having unvarying methods to culture hES cells,in order to facilitate comparisons among data obtained by research groups elsewhere,especially concerning preclinical studies. Moreover,the description of the most widely used cell lines,reagents,and procedures adopted internationally will help newcomers on deciding the best strategies for starting their own studies. Finally,the results will contribute with the efforts of stem cell researchers on comparing the performance of different aspects related to hES cell culture methods. View Publication

Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) are capable to give rise to all cell types in the human body during the normal course of development. Therefore,these cells hold a great promise in regenerative cell replacement based therapeutical approaches. However,some controversy exists in literature concerning the ultimate fate of hESC after exposure to genotoxic agents,in particular,regarding the effect of DNA damaging insults on pluripotency of hESC. To comprehensively address this issue,we performed an analysis of the expression of marker genes,associated with pluripotent state of hESC,such as Oct-4,Nanog,Sox-2,SSEA-4,TERT,TRA-1-60 and TRA-1-81 up to 65h after exposure to ionizing radiation (IR) using flow cytometry,immunocytochemistry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction techniques. We show that irradiation with relatively low doses of gamma-radiation (0.2Gy and 1Gy) does not lead to loss of expression of the pluripotency-associated markers in the surviving hESC. While changes in the levels of expression of some of the pluripotency markers were observed at different time points after IR exposure,these alterations were not persistent,and,in most cases,the expression of the pluripotency-associated markers remained significantly higher than that observed in fully differentiated human fibroblasts,and in hESCs differentiated into definitive endodermal lineage. Our data suggest that exposure of hESC to relatively low doses of IR as a model genotoxic agent does not significantly affect pluripotency of the surviving fraction of hESC. View Publication

There are many reports of defined culture systems for the propagation of human embryonic stem cells in the absence of feeder cell support,but no previous study has undertaken a multi-laboratory comparison of these diverse methodologies. In this study,five separate laboratories,each with experience in human embryonic stem cell culture,used a panel of ten embryonic stem cell lines (including WA09 as an index cell line common to all laboratories) to assess eight cell culture methods,with propagation in the presence of Knockout Serum Replacer,FGF-2,and mouse embryonic fibroblast feeder cell layers serving as a positive control. The cultures were assessed for up to ten passages for attachment,death,and differentiated morphology by phase contrast microscopy,for growth by serial cell counts,and for maintenance of stem cell surface marker expression by flow cytometry. Of the eight culture systems,only the control and those based on two commercial media,mTeSR1 and STEMPRO,supported maintenance of most cell lines for ten passages. Cultures grown in the remaining media failed before this point due to lack of attachment,cell death,or overt cell differentiation. Possible explanations for relative success of the commercial formulations in this study,and the lack of success with other formulations from academic groups compared to previously published results,include: the complex combination of growth factors present in the commercial preparations; improved development,manufacture,and quality control in the commercial products; differences in epigenetic adaptation to culture in vitro between different ES cell lines grown in different laboratories. View Publication

The pressing demand to elucidate the biology of human embryonic stem (ES) cells and to realize their therapeutic potential has greatly promoted the progresses in the optimization of the culture systems used for this highly promising cell type. These progresses include the characterization of exogenous regulators of pluripotency and differentiation,the development of animal-free,defined,and scalable culture systems,and some pioneering efforts to establish good manufactory practice facilities to derive and expand clinical-grade human ES cells and their derivatives. All of these advancements appear to be also applicable to the derivation and culture of human induced pluripotent stem cells,an ES cell-like cell type derived from somatic cells via reprogramming. This review attempts to summarize these progresses and discuss some of the remaining challenges. View Publication

Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling pathways are involved in differentiation of stem cells into diverse cell types,and thus BMPs can be used as main guidance molecules for in vitro differentiation of human stem cells. View Publication