技术资料

BACKGROUND: To maintain pluripotency of human embryonic stem (huES) cells in feeder-free culture it has been necessary to provide a Matrigel substratum,which is a complex of poorly defined extracellular matrices and growth factors derived from mouse Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm sarcoma cells. Culture of stem cells under ill-defined conditions can inhibit the effectiveness of maintaining cells in a pluripotent state and reduce reproducibility of differentiation protocols. Moreover recent batches of Matrigel have been found to be contaminated with the single stranded RNA virus,Lactate Dehydrogenase Elevating Virus (LDEV),raising concerns regarding the safety of using stem cells that have been cultured on Matrigel in a therapeutic setting. To circumvent such concerns,we attempted to identify a recombinant matrix that could be used as an alternative to Matrigel for the culture of human pluripotent stem cells. huES and human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells were grown on plates coated with a fusion protein consisting of E-cadherin and the IgG Fc domain using mTeSR1 medium.backslashnbackslashnRESULTS: Cells grown under these conditions maintained similar morphology and growth rate to those grown on Matrigel and retained all pluripotent stem cell features,including an ability to differentiate into multiple cell lineages in teratoma assays. We,therefore,present a culture system that maintains the pluripotency of huES and hiPS cells under completely defined conditions.backslashnbackslashnCONCLUSIONS: We propose that this system should facilitate growth of stem cells using good manufacturing practices (GMP),which will be necessary for the clinical use of pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives. View Publication

The recent development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by ectopic expression of defined reprogramming factors offers enormous therapeutic opportunity. To deliver these factors,murine leukemia virus (MLV)-based vectors have been broadly used in the setting of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However,MLV vectors have been implicated in malignancy induced by insertional mutagenesis,whereas lentiviral vectors have not. Furthermore,the infectivity of MLV vectors is limited to dividing cells,whereas lentiviral vectors can also transduce nondividing cells. One important characteristic of MLV vectors is a self-silencing property of the promoter element in pluripotent stem cells,allowing temporal transgene expression in a nonpluripotent state before iPSC derivation. Here we test iPSC generation using a novel chimeric vector carrying a mutant MLV promoter internal to a lentiviral vector backbone,thereby containing the useful properties of both types of vectors. Transgene expression of this chimeric vector was highly efficient compared with that of MLV vectors and was silenced specifically in human embryonic stem cells. Human fetal fibroblasts transduced with the vector encoding each factor were efficiently reprogrammed into a pluripotent state,and these iPSCs had potential to differentiate into a variety of cell types. To explore the possibility of iPSCs for gene therapy,we established iPSC clones expressing a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5),the main coreceptor for HIV-1. Using a reporter construct for CCR5 expression,we confirmed that CCR5 shRNA was expressed and specifically knocked down the reporter expression in iPSCs. These data indicate that our chimeric lentiviral vector is a valuable tool for generation of iPSCs and the combination with vectors encoding transgenes allows for rapid establishment of desired genetically engineered iPSC lines. View Publication

Microfluidic image cytometry (MIC) has been developed to study phenotypes of various hPSC lines by screening several chemically defined serum/feeder-free conditions. A chemically defined hPSC culture was established using 20 ng mL(-1) of bFGF on 20 microg mL(-1) of Matrigel to grow hPSCs over a week in an undifferentiated state. Following hPSC culture,we conducted quantitative MIC to perform a single cell profiling of simultaneously detected protein expression (OCT4 and SSEA1). Using clustering analysis,we were able to systematically compare the characteristics of various hPSC lines in different conditions. View Publication

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may emerge as an ideal non-invasive imaging modality to monitor stem cell therapy in the failing heart. This imaging modality generates any arbitrary tomographic view at high spatial and temporal resolution with exquisite intrinsic tissue contrast. This capability enables robust evaluation of both the cardiac anatomy and function. Traditionally,superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle (SPIO) has been widely used for cellular MRI due to SPIO's ability to enhance sensitivity of MRI by inducing remarkable hypointense,negative signal,blooming effect" on T2*-weighted MRI acquisition. Recently� View Publication

Since the derivation of human embryonic stem (hES) cells,their translation to clinical therapies has been met with several challenges,including the need for large-scale expansion and controlled differentiation processes. Suspension bioreactors are an effective alternative to static culture flasks as they enable the generation of clinically relevant cell numbers with greater efficacy in a controlled culture system. We,along with other groups,have developed bioreactor protocols for the expansion of pluripotent murine ES cells. Here we present a novel bioreactor protocol that yields a 25-fold expansion of hES cells over 6 days. Using immunofluorescence,flow cytometry,and teratoma formation assays,we demonstrated that these bioreactor cultures retained high levels of pluripotency and a normal karyotype. Importantly,the use of bioreactors enables the expansion of hES cells in the absence of feeder layers or matrices,which will facilitate the adaptation of good manufacturing process (GMP) standards to the development of hES cell therapies. View Publication

Cancer stem cells are known for their inherent resistance to therapy. Here we investigated whether normal stem cells with acquired resistance to stress can be used to identify novel markers of cancer stem cells. For this,we generated a human embryonic stem cell line resistant to Trichostatin A and analyzed changes in its gene expression. The resistant cells over-expressed various genes associated with tumor aggressiveness,many of which are also expressed in the CD133+ glioma cancer stem cells. These findings suggest that stress-resistant stem cells generated in vitro may be useful for the discovery of novel markers of cancer stem cells. View Publication

Four commercially available serum-free and defined culture media tested on 2 human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines were all found to support undifferentiated growth for textgreater10 continuous passages. For hESC cultured with defined StemPro and mTeSR1 media,the cells were maintained feeder-free on culture dishes coated with extracellular matrices (ECMs) with no requirement of feeder-conditioned media (CM). For xeno-free serum replacer (XSR),HEScGRO,and KnockOut media,mitotically inactivated human foreskin feeders (hFFs) were required for hESC growth. Under the different media conditions,cells continued to exhibit alkaline phosphatase activity and expressed undifferentiated hESC markers Oct-4,stage-specific embryonic antigens 4 (SSEA-4),and Tra-1-60. In addition,hESC maintained the expression of podocalyxin-like protein-1 (PODXL),an antigen recently reported in another study to be present in undifferentiated hESC. The cytotoxic antibody mAb 84 binds via PODXL expressed on hESC surface and kills textgreater90% of hESC within 45 min of incubation. When these cells were spontaneously differentiated to form embryoid bodies,derivatives representing the 3 germ layers were obtained. Injection of hESC into animal models resulted in teratomas and the formation of tissue types indicative of ectodermal,endodermal,and mesodermal lineages were observed. Our data also suggested that StemPro and mTeSR1 media were more optimal for hESC proliferation compared to cells grown on CM because the growth rate of hESC increased by 30%-40%,higher split ratio was thus required for weekly passaging. This is advantageous for the large-scale cultivation of hESC required in clinical applications. View Publication