技术资料

Human sensory neurons are inaccessible for functional examination,and thus little is known about the mechanisms mediating touch sensation in humans. Here we demonstrate that the mechanosensitivity of human embryonic stem (hES) cell-derived touch receptors depends on PIEZO2. To recapitulate sensory neuron development in vitro,we established a multistep differentiation protocol and generated sensory neurons via the intermediate production of neural crest cells derived from hES cells or human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells. The generated neurons express a distinct set of touch receptor-specific genes and convert mechanical stimuli into electrical signals,their most salient characteristic in vivo. Strikingly,mechanosensitivity is lost after CRISPR/Cas9-mediated PIEZO2 gene deletion. Our work establishes a model system that resembles human touch receptors,which may facilitate mechanistic analysis of other sensory subtypes and provide insight into developmental programs underlying sensory neuron diversity. View Publication

Neural crest cells (NCCs) are an embryonic migratory cell population with the ability to differentiate into a wide variety of cell types that contribute to the craniofacial skeleton,cornea,peripheral nervous system,and skin pigmentation. This ability suggests the promising role of NCCs as a source for cell-based therapy. Although several methods have been used to induce human NCCs (hNCCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs),such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs),further modifications are required to improve the robustness,efficacy,and simplicity of these methods. Chemically defined medium (CDM) was used as the basal medium in the induction and maintenance steps. By optimizing the culture conditions,the combination of the GSK3β inhibitor and TGFβ inhibitor with a minimum growth factor (insulin) very efficiently induced hNCCs (70-80%) from hPSCs. The induced hNCCs expressed cranial NCC-related genes and stably proliferated in CDM supplemented with EGF and FGF2 up to at least 10 passages without changes being observed in the major gene expression profiles. Differentiation properties were confirmed for peripheral neurons,glia,melanocytes,and corneal endothelial cells. In addition,cells with differentiation characteristics similar to multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) were induced from hNCCs using CDM specific for human MSCs. Our simple and robust induction protocol using small molecule compounds with defined media enabled the generation of hNCCs as an intermediate material producing terminally differentiated cells for cell-based innovative medicine. View Publication

The promise of genetic reprogramming has prompted initiatives to develop banks of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from diverse sources. Sentinel assays for pluripotency could maximize available resources for generating iPSCs. Neural rosettes represent a primitive neural tissue that is unique to differentiating PSCs and commonly used to identify derivative neural/stem progenitors. Here,neural rosettes were used as a sentinel assay for pluripotency in selection of candidates to advance to validation assays. Candidate iPSCs were generated from independent populations of amniotic cells with episomal vectors. Phase imaging of living back up cultures showed neural rosettes in 2 of the 5 candidate populations. Rosettes were immunopositive for the Sox1,Sox2,Pax6 and Pax7 transcription factors that govern neural development in the earliest stage of development and for the Isl1/2 and Otx2 transcription factors that are expressed in the dorsal and ventral domains,respectively,of the neural tube in vivo. Dissociation of rosettes produced cultures of differentiation competent neural/stem progenitors that generated immature neurons that were immunopositive for βIII-tubulin and glia that were immunopositive for GFAP. Subsequent validation assays of selected candidates showed induced expression of endogenous pluripotency genes,epigenetic modification of chromatin and formation of teratomas in immunodeficient mice that contained derivatives of the 3 embryonic germ layers. Validated lines were vector-free and maintained a normal karyotype for more than 60 passages. The credibility of rosette assembly as a sentinel assay for PSCs is supported by coordinate loss of nuclear-localized pluripotency factors Oct4 and Nanog in neural rosettes that emerge spontaneously in cultures of self-renewing validated lines. Taken together,these findings demonstrate value in neural rosettes as sentinels for pluripotency and selection of promising candidates for advance to validation assays. View Publication

Hypoxia augments human embryonic stem cell (hESC) self-renewal via hypoxia-inducible factor 2??-activated OCT4 transcription. Hypoxia also increases the efficiency of reprogramming differentiated cells to a pluripotent-like state. Combined,these findings suggest that low O2 tension would impair the purposeful differentiation of pluripotent stem cells. Here,we show that low O2 tension and hypoxiainducible factor (HIF) activity instead promote appropriate hESC differentiation. Through gain- and loss-of-function studies,we implicate O2 tension as a modifier of a key cell fate decision,namely whether neural progenitors differentiate toward neurons or glia. Furthermore,our data show that even transient changes in O2 concentration can affect cell fate through HIF by regulating the activity of MYC,a regulator of LIN28/let-7 that is critical for fate decisions in the neural lineage.We also identify key small molecules that can take advantage of this pathway to quickly and efficiently promote the development of mature cell types. View Publication

BACKGROUND:Emerging studies of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) raise new prospects for neurodegenerative disease modeling and cell replacement therapies. Therefore,understanding the mechanisms underlying the commitment of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) is important for the application of hPSCs in neurodegenerative disease therapies. It has been reported that epigenetic modifications of histones play important roles in neural differentiation,but the exact mechanisms in regulating hPSC differentiation towards NPCs are not fully elucidated.RESULTS:We demonstrated that suppression of histone deacetylases (HDACs) promoted the differentiation of hPSCs towards NPCs. Application of HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) increased the expression of neuroectodermal markers and enhanced the neuroectodermal specification once neural differentiation was initiated,thereby leading to more NPC generation. Similarly,the transcriptome analysis showed that HDACi increased the expression levels of ectodermal markers and triggered the NPC differentiation related pathways,while decreasing the expression levels of endodermal and mesodermal markers. Furthermore,we documented that HDAC3 but not HDAC1 or HDAC2 was the critical regulator participating in NPC differentiation,and knockdown of HDAC3's cofactor SMRT exhibited a similar effect as HDAC3 on NPC generation.CONCLUSIONS:Our study reveals that HDACs,especially HDAC3,negatively regulate the differentiation of hPSCs towards NPCs at an earlier stage of neural differentiation. Moreover,HDAC3 might function by forming a repressor complex with its cofactor SMRT during this process. Thus,our findings uncover an important epigenetic mechanism of HDAC3 in the differentiation of hPSCs towards NPCs. View Publication

Various strategies have been published enabling cardiomyocyte differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. However the complex nature of signaling pathways involved as well as line-to-line variability compromises the application of a particular protocol to robustly obtain cardiomyocytes from multiple iPS lines. Hence it is necessary to identify optimized protocols with alternative combinations of specific growth factors and small molecules to enhance the robustness of cardiac differentiation. Here we focus on systematic modulation of BMP and WNT signaling to enhance cardiac differentiation. Moreover,we improve the efficacy of cardiac differentiation by enrichment via lactate. Using our protocol we show efficient derivation of cardiomyocytes from multiple human iPS lines. In particular we demonstrate cardiomyocyte differentiation within 15 days with an efficiency of up to 95 % as judged by flow cytometry staining against cardiac troponin T. Cardiomyocytes derived were functionally validated by alpha-actinin staining,transmission electron microscopy as well as electrophysiological analysis. We expect our protocol to provide a robust basis for scale-up production of functional iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes that can be used for cell replacement therapy and disease modeling. View Publication

Due to the unlimited proliferation capacity and the unique differentiation ability of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs),including both embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs),large numbers of PSC-derived cell products are in demand for applications in drug screening,disease modeling,and especially cell therapy. In stem cell-based therapy,tracking transplanted cells with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as a powerful technique to reveal cell survival and distribution. This chapter illustrated the basic steps of labeling PSC-derived neural progenitors (NPs) with micron-sized particles of iron oxide (MPIO,0.86 $$m) for MRI analysis. The protocol described PSC expansion and differentiation into NPs,and the labeling of the derived cells either after replating on adherent surface or in suspension. The labeled cells can be analyzed using in vitro MRI analysis. The methods presented here can be easily adapted for cell labeling in cell processing facilities under current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). The iron oxide-labeled NPs can be used for cellular monitoring of in vitro cultures and in vivo transplantation. View Publication

We here report that doxycycline,an antibacterial agent,exerts dramatic effects on human embryonic stem and induced pluripotent stem cells (hESC/iPSCs) survival and self-renewal. The survival-promoting effect was also manifest in cultures of neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from hESC/iPSCs. These doxycycline effects are not associated with its antibacterial action,but mediated by direct activation of a PI3K-AKT intracellular signal. These findings indicate doxycycline as a useful supplement for stem cell cultures,facilitating their growth and maintenance. View Publication

The discovery of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has sparked great interest in the potential treatment of patients with their own in vitro differentiated cells. Recently,knockout of the Tumor Protein 53 (p53) gene was reported to facilitate reprogramming but unfortunately also led to genomic instability. Here,we report that transient suppression of p53 during nonintegrative reprogramming of human fibroblasts leads to a significant increase in expression of pluripotency markers and overall number of iPSC colonies,due to downstream suppression of p21,without affecting apoptosis and DNA damage. Stable iPSC lines generated with or without p53 suppression showed comparable expression of pluripotency markers and methylation patterns,displayed normal karyotypes,contained between 0 and 5 genomic copy number variations and produced functional neurons in vitro. In conclusion,transient p53 suppression increases reprogramming efficiency without affecting genomic stability,rendering the method suitable for in vitro mechanistic studies with the possibility for future clinical translation. View Publication

Incurable neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD),Huntington's disease (HD),and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are very common and can be life-threatening because of their progressive disease symptoms with limited treatment options. To provide an alternative renewable cell source for cell-based transplantation and as study models for neurological diseases,we generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) and then differentiated them into neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and mature neurons by dual SMAD signaling inhibitors. Reprogramming efficiency was improved by supplementing the histone deacethylase inhibitor,valproic acid (VPA),and inhibitor of p160-Rho associated coiled-coil kinase (ROCK),Y-27632,after retroviral transduction. We obtained a number of iPS colonies that shared similar characteristics with human embryonic stem cells in terms of their morphology,cell surface antigens,pluripotency-associated gene and protein expressions as well as their in vitro and in vivo differentiation potentials. After treatment with Noggin and SB431542,inhibitors of the SMAD signaling pathway,HDF-iPSCs demonstrated rapid and efficient differentiation into neural lineages. Six days after neural induction,neuroepithelial cells (NEPCs) were observed in the adherent monolayer culture,which had the ability to differentiate further into NPCs and neurons,as characterized by their morphology and the expression of neuron-specific transcripts and proteins. We propose that our study may be applied to generate neurological disease patient-specific iPSCs allowing better understanding of disease pathogenesis and drug sensitivity assays. View Publication

Physical stimuli can act in either a synergistic or antagonistic manner to regulate cell fate decisions,but it is less clear whether insoluble signals alone can direct human pluripotent stem (hPS) cell differentiation into specialized cell types. We previously reported that stiff materials promote nuclear localization of the Yes-associated protein (YAP) transcriptional coactivator and support long-term self-renewal of hPS cells. Here,we show that even in the presence of soluble pluripotency factors,compliant substrata inhibit the nuclear localization of YAP and promote highly efficient differentiation of hPS cells into postmitotic neurons. In the absence of neurogenic factors,the effective substrata produce neurons rapidly (2 wk) and more efficiently (textgreater75%) than conventional differentiation methods. The neurons derived from substrate induction express mature markers and possess action potentials. The hPS differentiation observed on compliant surfaces could be recapitulated on stiff surfaces by adding small-molecule inhibitors of F-actin polymerization or by depleting YAP. These studies reveal that the matrix alone can mediate differentiation of hPS cells into a mature cell type,independent of soluble inductive factors. That mechanical cues can override soluble signals suggests that their contributions to early tissue development and lineage commitment are profound. View Publication

Human brain development exhibits several unique aspects,such as increased complexity and expansion of neuronal output,that have proven difficult to study in model organisms. As a result,in vitro approaches to model human brain development and disease are an intense area of research. Here we describe a recently established protocol for generating 3D brain tissue,so-called cerebral organoids,which closely mimics the endogenous developmental program. This method can easily be implemented in a standard tissue culture room and can give rise to developing cerebral cortex,ventral telencephalon,choroid plexus and retinal identities,among others,within 1-2 months. This straightforward protocol can be applied to developmental studies,as well as to the study of a variety of human brain diseases. Furthermore,as organoids can be maintained for more than 1 year in long-term culture,they also have the potential to model later events such as neuronal maturation and survival. View Publication