技术资料

Epithelial to mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) are thought to be essential to generate diversity of tissues during early fetal development,but these events are essentially impossible to study at the molecular level in vivo in humans. The first EMT event that has been described morphologically in human development occurs just prior to generation of the primitive streak. Because human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are thought to most closely resemble cells found in epiblast-stage embryos prior to formation of the primitive streak,we sought to determine whether this first human EMT could be modeled in vitro with pluripotent stem cells. The data presented here suggest that generating embryoid bodies from hESCs or hiPSCs drives a procession of EMT events that can be observed within 24-48 hours after EB generation. These structures possess the typical hallmarks of developmental EMTs,and portions also display evidence of primitive streak and mesendoderm. We identify PTK7 as a novel marker of this EMT population,which can also be used to purify these cells for subsequent analyses and identification of novel markers of human development. Gene expression analysis indicated an upregulation of EMT markers and ECM proteins in the PTK7+ population. We also find that cells that undergo this developmental EMT retain developmental plasticity as sorting,dissociation and re-plating reestablishes an epithelial phenotype. View Publication

BACKGROUND: Although methods for generating cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells have been reported,current methods produce heterogeneous mixtures of cardiomyocytes and noncardiomyocyte cells. Here,we report an entirely novel system in which pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes are purified by cardiomyocyte-specific molecular beacons (MBs). MBs are nanoscale probes that emit a fluorescence signal when hybridized to target mRNAs.backslashnbackslashnMETHOD AND RESULTS: Five MBs targeting mRNAs of either cardiac troponin T or myosin heavy chain 6/7 were generated. Among 5 MBs,an MB that targeted myosin heavy chain 6/7 mRNA (MHC1-MB) identified up to 99% of HL-1 cardiomyocytes,a mouse cardiomyocyte cell line,but textless3% of 4 noncardiomyocyte cell types in flow cytometry analysis,which indicates that MHC1-MB is specific for identifying cardiomyocytes. We delivered MHC1-MB into cardiomyogenically differentiated pluripotent stem cells through nucleofection. The detection rate of cardiomyocytes was similar to the percentages of cardiac troponin T- or cardiac troponin I-positive cardiomyocytes,which supports the specificity of MBs. Finally,MHC1-MB-positive cells were sorted by fluorescence-activated cell sorter from mouse and human pluripotent stem cell differentiating cultures,and ≈97% cells expressed cardiac troponin T or cardiac troponin I as determined by flow cytometry. These MB-based sorted cells maintained their cardiomyocyte characteristics,which was verified by spontaneous beating,electrophysiological studies,and expression of cardiac proteins. When transplanted in a myocardial infarction model,MB-based purified cardiomyocytes improved cardiac function and demonstrated significant engraftment for 4 weeks without forming tumors.backslashnbackslashnCONCLUSIONS: We developed a novel cardiomyocyte selection system that allows production of highly purified cardiomyocytes. These purified cardiomyocytes and this system can be valuable for cell therapy and drug discovery. View Publication

Neural precursor (NP) cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs),and their neuronal progeny,will play an important role in disease modeling,drug screening tests,central nervous system development studies,and may even become valuable for regenerative medicine treatments. Nonetheless,it is challenging to obtain homogeneous and synchronously differentiated NP populations from hiPSCs,and after neural commitment many pluripotent stem cells remain in the differentiated cultures. Here,we describe an efficient and simple protocol to differentiate hiPSC-derived NPs in 12 days,and we include a final purification stage where Tra-1-60+ pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are removed using magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS),leaving the NP population nearly free of PSCs. View Publication

In order to realize the practical use of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes for the purpose of clinical use or cardiovascular research,the generation of large numbers of highly purified cardiomyocytes should be achieved. Here,we show an efficient method for cardiac differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in chemically defined conditions and purification of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes using a reporter system. Regulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is implicated in the induction of the cardiac differentiation of hPSCs. We increased cardiac differentiation efficiency of hiPSCs in chemically defined conditions through combined treatment with XAV939,a tankyrase inhibitor and IWP2,a porcupine inhibitor and optimized concentrations. Although cardiac differentiation efficiency was high (>80%),it was difficult to suppress differentiation into non-cardiac cells,Therefore,we applied a lentiviral reporter system,wherein green fluorescence protein (GFP) and Zeocin-resistant gene are driven by promoter activation of a gene (TNNT2) encoding cardiac troponin T (cTnT),a cardiac-specific protein,to exclude non-cardiomyocytes from differentiated cell populations. We transduced this reporter construct into differentiated cells using a lentiviral vector and then obtained highly purified hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes by treatment with the lowest effective dose of Zeocin. We significantly increased transgenic efficiency through manipulation of the cells in which the differentiated cells were simultaneously infected with virus and re-plated after single-cell dissociation. Purified cells specifically expressed GFP,cTnT,displayed typical properties of cardiomyocytes. This study provides an efficient strategy for obtaining large quantities of highly purified hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes for application in regenerative medicine and biomedical research. View Publication

In the field of hematopoietic regeneration,deriving hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from pluripotent stem cells with engraftment potential is the central mission. Unstable hematopoietic differentiation protocol due to variation factors such as serums and feeder cells,remains a major technical issue impeding the screening of key factors for the derivation of HSCs. In combination with hematopoietic cytokines,UM171 has the capacity to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of human primary HSCs in vitro. Here,using a serum-free,feeder-free,and chemically defined induction protocol,we observed that UM171 enhanced hematopoietic derivation through the entire process of hematopoietic induction in vitro. UM171 facilitated generation of robust CD34(+)CD45(+) derivatives that formed more and larger sized CFU-GM as well as larger sized CFU-Mix. In our protocol,the derived hematopoietic progenitors failed to engraft in NOG mice,indicating the absence of long-term HSC from these progenitors. In combination with other factors and protocols,UM171 might be broadly used for hematopoietic derivation from human pluripotent stem cells in vitro. View Publication

Targeted genome editing with engineered nucleases has transformed the ability to introduce precise sequence modifications at almost any site within the genome. A major obstacle to probing the efficiency and consequences of genome editing is that no existing method enables the frequency of different editing events to be simultaneously measured across a cell population at any endogenous genomic locus.We have developed a method for quantifying individual genome-editing outcomes at any site of interest with single-molecule real-time (SMRT) DNA sequencing. We show that this approach can be applied at various loci using multiple engineered nuclease platforms,including transcription-activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs),RNA-guided endonucleases (CRISPR/Cas9),and zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs),and in different cell lines to identify conditions and strategies in which the desired engineering outcome has occurred. This approach offers a technique for studying double-strand break repair,facilitates the evaluation of gene-editing technologies,and permits sensitive quantification of editing outcomes in almost every experimental system used. ?? 2014 The Authors. 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

BACKGROUND: Persistent mixed chimerism represents a state in which recipient and donor cells stably co-exist after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However,since in most of the studies reported in literature the engraftment state was observed in the nucleated cells,in this study we determined the donor origin of the mature erythrocytes of patients with persistent mixed chimerism after transplantation for hemoglobinopathies. Results were compared with the engraftment state observed in singly picked out burst-forming unit - erythroid colonies and in the nucleated cells collected from the peripheral blood and from the bone marrow. DESIGN AND METHODS: The donor origin of the erythrocytes was determined analyzing differences on the surface antigens of the erythrocyte suspension after incubation with anti-ABO and/or anti-C,-c,-D,-E and -e monoclonal antibodies by a flow cytometer. Analysis of short tandem repeats was used to determine the donor origin of nucleated cells and burst-forming unit - erythroid colonies singly picked out after 14 days of incubation. RESULTS: The proportions of donor-derived nucleated cells in four transplanted patients affected by hemoglobinopathies were 71%,46%,15% and 25% at day 1364,1385,1314 and 932,respectively. Similar results were obtained for the erythroid precursors,analyzing the donor/recipient origin of the burst-forming unit - erythroid colonies. In contrast,on the same days of observation,the proportions of donor-derived erythrocytes in the four patients with persistent mixed chimerism were 100%,100%,73% and 90%. Conclusions Our results showed that most of the erythrocytes present in four long-term transplanted patients affected by hemoglobinopathies and characterized by the presence of few donor engrafted nucleated cells were of donor origin. The indication that small proportions of donor engrafted cells might be sufficient for clinical control of the disease in patients affected by hemoglobinopathies is relevant,although the biological mechanisms underlying these observations need further investigation. View Publication

Definitive hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSCs/Ps) originating from the yolk sac and/or para-aorta-splanchno-pleura/aorta-gonad-mesonephros are hypothesized to colonize the fetal liver,but mechanisms involved are poorly defined. The Rac subfamily of Rho GTPases has been shown to play essential roles in HSC/P localization to the bone marrow following transplantation. Here,we study the role of Rac1 in HSC/P migration during ontogeny and seeding of fetal liver. Using a triple-transgenic approach,we have deleted Rac1 in HSCs/Ps during very early embryonic development. Without Rac1,there was a decrease in circulating HSCs/Ps in the blood of embryonic day (E) 10.5 embryos,while yolk sac definitive hematopoiesis was quantitatively normal. Intraembryonic hematopoiesis was significantly impaired in Rac1-deficient embryos,culminating with absence of intra-aortic clusters and fetal liver hematopoiesis. At E10.5,Rac1-deficient HSCs/Ps displayed decreased transwell migration and impaired inter-action with the microenvironment in migration-dependent assays. These data suggest that Rac1 plays an important role in HSC/P migration during embryonic development and is essential for the emergence of intraembryonic hematopoiesis. View Publication

BACKGROUND: The radiation-induced bystander effect" (RIBE) was shown to occur in a number of experimental systems both in vitro and in vivo as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation (IR). RIBE manifests itself by intercellular communication from irradiated cells to non-irradiated cells which may cause DNA damage and eventual death in these bystander cells. It is known that human stem cells (hSC) are ultimately involved in numerous crucial biological processes such as embryologic development; maintenance of normal homeostasis; aging; and aging-related pathologies such as cancerogenesis and other diseases. However� View Publication

Measuring spatial and temporal patterns of cytochemical variation in human embryonic stem cell (hESC) colonies is necessary for understanding the role of cellular communication in spontaneous differentiation,the mechanisms of biological niche creation,and structure-generating developmental processes. Such insights will ultimately facilitate directed differentiation and therewith promote advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However,the patterns of cytochemical inhomogeneities of hESC colonies are not well studied and their causes are not fully understood. We used Raman spectroscopic mapping to contrast supracellular variations in cytochemical composition across pluripotent and partly differentiated hESC colonies to gain a better understanding of the early-stage (i.e.,5 days) effects of the differentiation process on the nature and evolution of these patterns. Higher protein-to-nucleic acid ratios,a differentiation status indicator observed previously using Raman spectroscopy,confirmed reported results that spontaneous differentiation is more pronounced on the edges of a colony than elsewhere. In addition,pluripotent and partly differentiated colonies also showed higher lipid concentrations relative to nucleic acids at colony edges in contrast to relative glycogen concentrations,which were up to 400% more pronounced in the colony centers compared to their edges. Pluripotent and partly differentiated colonies differed,with the latter having higher average protein-to-nucleic acid and lipid-to-nucleic acid ratios but a lower glycogen-to-nucleic acid ratio. In both cases,cell density,pluripotency,and high glycogen appeared to vary in tandem. Spatial variations in glycogen- and protein-to-nucleic acid ratios have features on the order of 100 μm and larger. These dimensions are consistent with those reported for stem cell niches and suggest that cytochemical inhomogeneities may provide colony-level information about niches and niche formation. These results demonstrate Raman mapping to be a potentially useful technique for revealing the complexities in the spatial organization of hESC cultures and thus for monitoring the evolution of engineered hESC niches. View Publication

The characterisation of stem cells is of vital importance to regenerative medicine. Failure to separate out all stem cells from differentiated cells before therapies can result in teratomas - tumours of multiple cell types. Typically,characterisation is performed in a destructive manner with fluorescent assays. A truly non-invasive method of characterisation would be a major breakthrough in stem cell-based therapies. Raman spectroscopy has revealed that DNA and RNA levels drop when a stem cell differentiates into other cell types,which we link to a change in the relative sizes of the nucleus and cytoplasm. We also used Raman spectroscopy to investigate the biochemistry within an early embryo,or blastocyst,which differs greatly from colonies of embryonic stem cells. Certain cell types that differentiate from stem cells can be identified by directly imaging the biochemistry with CARS microscopy; examples presented are hydroxyapatite - a precursor to bone,and lipids in adipocytes. View Publication