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Until recently,culturing human pluripotent stem cells was hampered by three prominent technical problems: a high degree of unwanted cellular stress when the cells are passaged,unacceptably low cloning efficiency and poor recovery of cryopreserved stocks. This review discusses recent developments that address these problems. A major focus of the review is the use of p160 Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase inhibitors for improving both the cloning efficiency and the recovery of cryopreserved human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells. An underlying theme of this review is that the three problems have a common cause: separation of human pluripotent stem cells from one another increases cellular stress,which greatly decreases their viability unless special steps are taken. View Publication

BACKGROUND: Constitutive promoters that ensure sustained and high level gene expression are basic research tools that have a wide range of applications,including studies of human embryology and drug discovery in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Numerous cellular/viral promoters that ensure sustained gene expression in various cell types have been identified but systematic comparison of their activities in hESCs is still lacking. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have quantitatively compared promoter activities of five commonly used constitutive promoters,including the human β-actin promoter (ACTB),cytomegalovirus (CMV),elongation factor-1α,(EF1α),phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) and ubiquitinC (UbC) in hESCs. Lentiviral gene transfer was used to ensure stable integration of promoter-eGFP constructs into the hESCs genome. Promoter activities were quantitatively compared in long term culture of undifferentiated hESCs and in their differentiated progenies. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The ACTB,EF1α and PGK promoters showed stable activities during long term culture of undifferentiated hESCs. The ACTB promoter was superior by maintaining expression in 75-80% of the cells after 50 days in culture. During embryoid body (EB) differentiation,promoter activities of all five promoters decreased. Although the EF1α promoter was downregulated in approximately 50% of the cells,it was the most stable promoter during differentiation. Gene expression analysis of differentiated eGFP+ and eGFP- cells indicate that promoter activities might be restricted to specific cell lineages,suggesting the need to carefully select optimal promoters for constitutive gene expression in differentiated hESCs. View Publication

The introduction of double stranded RNA (dsRNA) into the cytoplasm of mammalian cells usually leads to a potent antiviral response resulting in the rapid induction of interferon beta (IFNβ). This response can be mediated by a number of dsRNA sensors,including TLR3,MDA5,RIG-I and PKR. We show here that pluripotent human cells (human embryonic stem (hES) cells and induced pluripotent (iPS) cells) do not induce interferon in response to cytoplasmic dsRNA,and we have used a variety of approaches to learn the underlying basis for this phenomenon. Two major cytoplasmic dsRNA sensors,TLR3 and MDA5,are not expressed in hES cells and iPS cells. PKR is expressed in hES cells,but is not activated by transfected dsRNA. In addition,RIG-I is expressed,but fails to respond to dsRNA because its signaling adapter,MITA/STING,is not expressed. Finally,the interferon-inducible RNAse L and oligoadenylate synthetase enzymes are also expressed at very low levels. Upon differentiation of hES cells into trophoblasts,cells acquire the ability to respond to dsRNA and this correlates with a significant induction of expression of TLR3 and its adaptor protein TICAM-1/TRIF. Taken together,our results reveal that the lack of an interferon response may be a general characteristic of pluripotency and that this results from the systematic downregulation of a number of genes involved in cytoplasmic dsRNA signaling. View Publication

Ethical and moral issues rule out the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in chimera studies that would determine the full extent of their reprogrammed state,instead relying on less rigorous assays such as teratoma formation and differentiated cell types. To date,only mouse iPSC lines are known to be truly pluripotent. However,initial mouse iPSC lines failed to form chimeric offspring,but did generate teratomas and differentiated embryoid bodies,and thus these specific iPSC lines were not completely reprogrammed or truly pluripotent. Therefore,there is a need to address whether the reprogramming factors and process used eventually to generate chimeric mice are universal and sufficient to generate reprogrammed iPSC that contribute to chimeric offspring in additional species. Here we show that porcine mesenchymal stem cells transduced with 6 human reprogramming factors (POU5F1,SOX2,NANOG,KLF4,LIN28,and C-MYC) injected into preimplantation-stage embryos contributed to multiple tissue types spanning all 3 germ layers in 8 of 10 fetuses. The chimerism rate was high,85.3% or 29 of 34 live offspring were chimeras based on skin and tail biopsies harvested from 2- to 5-day-old pigs. The creation of pluripotent porcine iPSCs capable of generating chimeric offspring introduces numerous opportunities to study the facets significantly affecting cell therapies,genetic engineering,and other aspects of stem cell and developmental biology. 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

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

While the determination of the trophoblast lineage and the facilitation of placental morphogenesis by trophoblast interactions with other cells of the placenta are crucial components for the establishment of pregnancy,these processes are not tractable at the time of human implantation. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) provide an embryonic surrogate to derive insights into these processes. In this review,we will summarize current paradigms which promote trophoblast differentiation from ESCs,and potential opportunities for their use to further define signals directing morphogenesis of the placenta following implantation of the embryo into the endometrium. View Publication

Vinculin is a highly conserved actin-binding protein that is localized in integrin-mediated focal adhesion complexes. Although critical roles have been proposed for integrins in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) function,little is known about the involvement of intracellular focal adhesion proteins in HSC functions. This study showed that the ability of c-Kit(+)Sca1(+)Lin(-) HSCs to support reconstitution of hematopoiesis after competitive transplantation was severely impaired by lentiviral transduction with short hairpin RNA sequences for vinculin. The potential of these HSCs to differentiate into granulocytic and monocytic lineages,to migrate toward stromal cell-derived factor 1α,and to home to the bone marrow in vivo were not inhibited by the loss of vinculin. However,the capacities to form long term culture-initiating cells and cobblestone-like areas were abolished in vinculin-silenced c-Kit(+)Sca1(+)Lin(-) HSCs. In contrast,adhesion to the extracellular matrix was inhibited by silencing of talin-1,but not of vinculin. Whole body in vivo luminescence analyses to detect transduced HSCs confirmed the role of vinculin in long term HSC reconstitution. Our results suggest that vinculin is an indispensable factor determining HSC repopulation capacity,independent of integrin functions. View Publication

Tissue engineering provides a new paradigm for periodontal tissue regeneration in which proper stem cells and effective cellular factors are very important. The objective of this study was,for the first time,to investigate the capabilities and advantages of periodontal tissue regeneration using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and enamel matrix derivatives (EMD). In this study the effect of EMD gel on iPS cells in vitro was first determined,and then tissue engineering technique was performed to repair periodontal defects in three groups: silk scaffold only; silk scaffold + EMD; and silk scaffold + EMD + iPS cells. EMD greatly enhanced the mRNA expression of Runx2 but inhibited the mRNA expression of OC and mineralization nodule formation in vitro. Transplantation of iPS cells showed higher expression levels of OC,Osx,and Runx2 genes,both 12 and 24 days postsurgery. At 24 days postsurgery in the iPS cell group,histological analysis showed much more new alveolar bone and cementum formation with regenerated periodontal ligament between them. The results showed the commitment role that EMD contributes in mesenchymal progenitors to early cells in the osteogenic lineage. iPS cells combined with EMD provide a valuable tool for periodontal tissue engineering,by promoting the formation of new cementum,alveolar bone,and normal periodontal ligament. View Publication