BioProject

Human ES cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are usually generated and maintained on living feeder cells like mouse embryonic fibroblasts or on a cell-free substrate like Matrigel. More...

Human ES cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are usually generated and maintained on living feeder cells like mouse embryonic fibroblasts or on a cell-free substrate like Matrigel. For clinical applications, a quality-controlled, xenobiotic-free culture system is required to minimize risks from contaminating animal-derived pathogens and immunogens. We previously reported that the pericellular matrix of decidua-derived mesenchymal cells (PCM-DM) is an ideal human-derived substrate on which to maintain hiPSCs/hESCs. In this study, we examined whether PCM-DM could be used for the generation and long-term stable maintenance of hiPSCs. Decidua-derived mesenchymal cells (DMCs) were reprogrammed by the retroviral transduction of four factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, c-MYC) and cultured on PCM-DM. The established hiPSC clones expressed alkaline phosphatase, hESC-specific genes and cell-surface markers, and differentiated into three germ layers in vitro and in vivo. At over 20 passages, the hiPSCs cultured on PCM-DM held the same cellular properties with genome integrity as those at early passages. Global gene expression analysis showed that the GDF3, FGF4, UTF1, and XIST expression levels varied during culture, and GATA6 was highly expressed under our culture conditions; however, these gene expressions did not affect the cells’ pluripotency. PCM-DM can be conveniently prepared from DMCs, which have a high proliferative potential. Our findings indicate that PCM-DM is a versatile and practical human-derived substrate that can be used for the feeder-cell-free generation and long-term stable maintenance of hiPSCs. Keywords: Induced pluripotent stem cells; Extracellular matrix; Decidua; Mesenchymal cells Overall design: The microarray study was carried out using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 gene expression arrays. Total RNA was extracted from cells with RNeasy (Qiagen), and 100ng of total RNA was used to synthesize aRNA using the 3’ IVT Express Kit, according to the manufacturer’s instructions (Affymetrix Inc., Santa Clara, CA). After aRNA purification, 15 μg of aRNA was fragmented and hybridized with a pre-equilibrated GeneChip array (Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 gene expression array, Affymetrix) at 45°C for 16 hours. The GeneChip array was then washed, stained, and scanned according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The gene expression data were extracted using Affymetrix Expression Console software. Less...