Ann Peters

A Universal System for Highly Efficient Cardiac Differentiation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells That Eliminates Interline Variability

Background The production of cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) holds great promise for patient-specific cardiotoxicity drug testing, disease modeling, and cardiac regeneration. However, existing protocols for the differentiation of hiPSC to the cardiac lineage are inefficient and highly variable. We describe a highly efficient system for differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and hiPSC to the cardiac lineage. This system eliminated the variability in cardiac differentiation capacity of a variety of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC), including hiPSC generated from CD34+ cord blood using non-viral, non-integrating methods. Methodology/Principal Findings We systematically and rigorously optimized >45 experimental variables to develop a universal cardiac differentiation system that produced contracting human embryoid bodies (hEB) with an improved efficiency of 94.7±2.4% in an accelerated nine days from four hESC and seven hiPSC lines tested, including hiPSC derived from neonatal CD34+ cord blood and adult fibroblasts using non-integrating episomal plasmids. This cost-effective differentiation method employed forced aggregation hEB formation in a chemically defined medium, along with staged exposure to physiological (5%) oxygen, and optimized concentrations of mesodermal morphogens BMP4 and FGF2, polyvinyl alcohol, serum, and insulin. The contracting hEB derived using these methods were composed of high percentages (64–89%) of cardiac troponin I+ cells that displayed ultrastructural properties of functional cardiomyocytes and uniform electrophysiological profiles responsive to cardioactive drugs. Conclusion/Significance This efficient and cost-effective universal system for cardiac differentiation of hiPSC allows a potentially unlimited production of functional cardiomyocytes suitable for application to hPSC-based drug development, cardiac disease modeling, and the future generation of clinically-safe nonviral human cardiac cells for regenerative medicine.

Generation of three-dimensional retinal tissue with functional photoreceptors from human iPSCs

Many forms of blindness result from the dysfunction or loss of retinal photoreceptors. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) hold great potential for the modeling of these diseases or as potential therapeutic agents. However, to fulfill this promise, a remaining challenge is to induce human iPSC to recreate in vitro key structural and functional features of the native retina, in particular the presence of photoreceptors with outer-segment discs and light-sensitivity. Here we report that hiPSC can, in a highly autonomous manner, recapitulate spatiotemporally each of the main steps of retinal development observed in vivo and form 3-dimensional retinal cups that contain all major retinal cell types arranged in their proper layers. Moreover, the photoreceptors in our hiPSC-derived retinal tissue achieve advanced maturation, showing the beginning of outer-segment-disc formation and photosensitivity. This success brings us one step closer to the anticipated use of hiPSC for disease modeling and open possibilities for future therapies.

Challenges and strategies for generating therapeutic patient-specific hemangioblasts and hematopoietic stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells

Recent characterization of hemangioblasts differentiated from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) has further confirmed evidence from murine, zebrafish and avian experimental systems that hematopoietic and endothelial lineages arise from a common progenitor. Such progenitors may provide a valuable resource for delineating the initial developmental steps of human hemato-endotheliogenesis, which is a process normally difficult to study due to the very limited accessibility of early human embryonic/fetal tissues. Moreover, efficient hemangioblast and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) generation from patient-specific pluripotent stem cells has enormous potential for regenerative medicine, since it could lead to strategies for treating a multitude of hematologic and vascular disorders. However, significant scientific challenges remain in achieving these goals, and the generation of transplantable hemangioblasts and HSC derived from hESC currently remains elusive. Our previous work has suggested that the failure to derive engraftable HSC from hESC is due to the fact that current methodologies for differentiating hESC produce hematopoietic progenitors developmentally similar to those found in the human yolk sac, and are therefore too immature to provide adult-type hematopoietic reconstitution. Herein, we outline the nature of this challenge and propose targeted strategies for generating engraftable human pluripotent stem cell-derived HSC from primitive hemangioblasts using a developmental approach. We also focus on methods by which reprogrammed somatic cells could be used to derive autologous pluripotent stem cells, which in turn could provide unlimited sources of patient-specific hemangioblasts and HSC.

Induced pluripotent stem cells from familial alzheimer's disease patients differentiate into mature neurons with amyloidogenic properties

Although the majority of Alzheimers disease (AD) cases are sporadic, about 5% of cases are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern as familial AD (FAD) and manifest at an early age. Mutations in the presenilin 1 (PSEN1) gene account for the majority of early-onset FAD. Here, we describe the generation of virus-free human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) derived from fibroblasts of patients harboring the FAD PSEN1 mutation A246E and fibroblasts from healthy age-matched controls using nonintegrating episomal vectors. We have differentiated these hiPSC lines to the neuronal lineage and demonstrated that hiPSC-derived neurons have mature phenotypic and physiological properties. Neurons from mutant hiPSC lines express PSEN1-A246E mutations themselves and show AD-like biochemical features, that is, amyloidogenic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) indicated by an increase in β-amyloid (Aβ)42/Aβ40 ratio. FAD hiPSCs harboring disease properties can be used as humanized models to test novel diagnostic methods and therapies and explore novel hypotheses for AD pathogenesis.

Growth Factor-Activated Stem Cell Circuits and Stromal Signals Cooperatively Accelerate Non-Integrated iPSC Reprogramming of Human Myeloid Progenitors

Nonviral conversion of skin or blood cells into clinically useful human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) occurs in only rare fractions (∼0.001%–0.5%) of donor cells transfected with non-integrating reprogramming factors. Pluripotency induction of developmentally immature stem-progenitors is generally more efficient than differentiated somatic cell targets. However, the nature of augmented progenitor reprogramming remains obscure, and its potential has not been fully explored for improving the extremely slow pace of non-integrated reprogramming. Here, we report highly optimized four-factor reprogramming of lineage-committed cord blood (CB) myeloid progenitors with bulk efficiencies of ∼50% in purified episome-expressing cells. Lineage-committed CD33+CD45+CD34− myeloid cells and not primitive hematopoietic stem-progenitors were the main targets of a rapid and nearly complete non-integrated reprogramming. The efficient conversion of mature myeloid populations into NANOG+TRA-1-81+ hiPSC was mediated by synergies between hematopoietic growth factor (GF), stromal activation signals, and episomal Yamanaka factor expression. Using a modular bioinformatics approach, we demonstrated that efficient myeloid reprogramming correlated not to increased proliferation or endogenous Core factor expressions, but to poised expression of GF-activated transcriptional circuits that commonly regulate plasticity in both hematopoietic progenitors and embryonic stem cells (ESC). Factor-driven conversion of myeloid progenitors to a high-fidelity pluripotent state was further accelerated by soluble and contact-dependent stromal signals that included an implied and unexpected role for Toll receptor-NFκB signaling. These data provide a paradigm for understanding the augmented reprogramming capacity of somatic progenitors, and reveal that efficient induced pluripotency in other cell types may also require extrinsic activation of a molecular framework that commonly regulates self-renewal and differentiation in both hematopoietic progenitors and ESC.

Erythropoietic differentiation of a human embryonic stem cell line harbouring the sickle cell anaemia mutation

Herein is reported efficient erythropoietic differentiation of a human embryonic stem cell (ESC) line derived from a preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)-screened embryo that harbours the homozygous sickle cell disease (SCD) haemoglobinopathy mutation. This human ESC line possesses typical pluripotency characteristics and forms multilineage teratomas in vivo. SCD-human ESC efficiently differentiated to the haematopoietic lineage under serum-free and stromal co-culture conditions and gave rise to robust primitive and definitive erythrocytes. Expression of embryonic, fetal and adult sickle globin genes in SCD PGD-derived human ESC-derived erythrocytes was confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR, intracytoplasmic fluorescence-activated cell sorting and in-situ immunostaining of PGD-derived human ESC teratoma sections. These data introduce important methodologies and paradigms for using patient-specific human ESC to generate normal and haemoglobinopathic erythroid progenitors for biomedical research.

Generation of Nonviral Integration-Free Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Plucked Human Hair Follicles

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provide a unique experimental reagent for dissecting the complex transcriptional, regulatory, and epigenetic mechanisms of pluripotency, as well as for studying normal and diseased human development. However, the utility of current iPSC lines may be limited by the utilization of integrating viral vectors for transgenic ectopic expression of oncogenic reprogramming factors (e.g., SOX2, OCT4, KLF4, MYC, NANOG, LIN28, and SV40 T antigen). Leaky expression of integrated pluripotency factor transgenes may inhibit completion of the somatic cell reprogramming process, pose great potential for subsequent malignant transformation, and ultimately limit differentiation strategies and their future clinical application. hiPSCs generated with transgene and vector-free approaches may more faithfully resemble human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and obviate some or all of these important caveats. In this chapter, we describe a simple and reproducible methodology for generating clinically safe nonviral, integration-free hiPSCs from keratinocytes noninvasively obtained and expanded from a donor’s single plucked hair follicle. Nonintegrated hiPSCs free of viral and transgene sequences should provide a potent tool for studies of pluripotency, and ultimately be more clinically useful in regenerative medicine.