scholarly journals Development and Application of Endothelial Cells Derived From Pluripotent Stem Cells in Microphysiological Systems Models

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crystal C. Kennedy ◽  
Erin E. Brown ◽  
Nadia O. Abutaleb ◽  
George A. Truskey

The vascular endothelium is present in all organs and blood vessels, facilitates the exchange of nutrients and waste throughout different organ systems in the body, and sets the tone for healthy vessel function. Mechanosensitive in nature, the endothelium responds to the magnitude and temporal waveform of shear stress in the vessels. Endothelial dysfunction can lead to atherosclerosis and other diseases. Modeling endothelial function and dysfunction in organ systems in vitro, such as the blood–brain barrier and tissue-engineered blood vessels, requires sourcing endothelial cells (ECs) for these biomedical engineering applications. It can be difficult to source primary, easily renewable ECs that possess the function or dysfunction in question. In contrast, human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can be sourced from donors of interest and renewed almost indefinitely. In this review, we highlight how knowledge of vascular EC development in vivo is used to differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) into ECs. We then describe how iPSC-derived ECs are being used currently in in vitro models of organ function and disease and in vivo applications.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Palladino ◽  
Isabella Mavaro ◽  
Carmela Pizzoleo ◽  
Elena De Felice ◽  
Carla Lucini ◽  
...  

Tissue engineering (TE) pursues the ambitious goal to heal damaged tissues. One of the most successful TE approaches relies on the use of scaffolds specifically designed and fabricated to promote tissue growth. During regeneration the guidance of biological events may be essential to sustain vasculature neoformation inside the engineered scaffold. In this context, one of the most effective strategies includes the incorporation of vasculature forming cells, namely endothelial cells (EC), into engineered constructs. However, the most common EC sources currently available, intended as primary cells, are affected by several limitations that make them inappropriate to personalized medicine. Human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSC), since the time of their discovery, represent an unprecedented opportunity for regenerative medicine applications. Unfortunately, human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-Endothelial Cells (hiPSC-ECs) still display significant safety issues. In this work, we reviewed the most effective protocols to induce pluripotency, to generate cells displaying the endothelial phenotype and to perform an efficient and safe cell selection. We also provide noteworthy examples of both in vitro and in vivo applications of hiPSC-ECs in order to highlight their ability to form functional blood vessels. In conclusion, we propose hiPSC-ECs as the preferred source of endothelial cells currently available in the field of personalized regenerative medicine.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Engi Ahmed ◽  
Mathieu Fieldes ◽  
Chloé Bourguignon ◽  
Joffrey Mianné ◽  
Aurélie Petit ◽  
...  

AbstractRationaleHighly reproducible in vitro generation of human bronchial epithelium from pluripotent stem cells is an unmet key goal for drug screening to treat lung diseases. The possibility of using induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) to model normal and diseased tissue in vitro from a simple blood sample will reshape drug discovery for chronic lung, monogenic and infectious diseases.MethodsWe devised a simple and reliable method that drives a blood sample reprogrammed into hiPSC subsequently differentiated within 45 days into air-liquid interface bronchial epithelium (iALI), through key developmental stages, definitive-endoderm (DE) and Ventralized-Anterior-Foregut-Endoderm (vAFE) cells.ResultsReprogramming blood cells from one healthy and 3 COPD patients, and from skin-derived fibroblasts obtained in one PCD patient, succeeded in 100% of samples using Sendai viruses. Mean cell purity at DE and vAFE stages was greater than 80%, assessed by expression of CXCR4 and NKX2.1, avoiding the need of cell sorting. When transferred to ALI conditions, vAFE cells reliably differentiated within 4 weeks into bronchial epithelium with large zones covered by beating ciliated, basal, goblets, club cells and neuroendocrine cells as found in vivo. Benchmarking all culture conditions including hiPSCs adaptation to single-cell passaging, cell density and differentiation induction timing allowed for consistently producing iALI bronchial epithelium from the five hiPSC lines.ConclusionsReliable reprogramming and differentiation of blood-derived hiPSCs into mature and functional iALI bronchial epithelium is ready for wider use and this will allow better understanding lung disease pathogenesis and accelerating the development of novel gene therapies and drug discovery.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ιωάννα Βαρελά

Η ανακάλυψη της μεθόδου του κυτταρικού επαναπρογραμματισμού ανθρώπινων δερματικών ινοβλαστών σε επαγόμενα πολυδύναμα βλαστοκύτταρα (induced pluripotent stem cells, iPSCs) το 2007 άνοιξε το δρόμο για τη μελέτη και την εξατομικευμένη θεραπεία πολλών χρόνιων νόσων. Επιδιώξαμε να δημιουργήσουμε iPS - κυτταρικές σειρές επαναπρογραμματίζοντας μεσεγχυματικά στρωματικά κύτταρα (mesenchymal stromal cells, MSCs) μυελού των οστών, μέσω μιας μεθόδου επαναπρογραμματισμού χωρίς ενσωμάτωση γονιδίων στο γενετικό υλικό των κυττάρων. Δερματικοί ινοβλάστες από φυσιολογικούς δότες και μεσεγχυματικά στρωματικά κύτταρα μυελού των οστών από φυσιολογικό δότη μεταμόσχευσης μυελού των οστών και από ασθενή με β-Μεσογειακή αναιμία (β-ΜΑ) διαμολύνθηκαν, μέσω λιποσωματικών φορέων, με συνθετικά mRNA που κωδικοποιούν τους μεταγραφικούς παράγοντες Oct4, Klf4, Sox2, Lin28, c-Myc. Στη συνέχεια, τα κύτταρα ελέγχθηκαν σε καλλιέργειες για τον σχηματισμό αποικιών πολυδύναμων βλαστοκυττάρων. Οι αποικίες απομονώθηκαν και με συνεχείς ανακαλλιέργειες δημιουργήθηκαν κυτταρικές σειρές, οι οποίες εξετάστηκαν για την πολυδυναμία τους με μεθόδους ανίχνευσης της έκφρασης των μεταγραφικών παραγόντων πολυδυναμίας (κυτταρομετρία ροής, RT-PCR, μελέτη του μεταγραφώματος με RNA μικροσυστοιχίες). Ως θετικός μάρτυρας και μέτρο σύγκρισης χρησιμοποιήθηκε πολύ καλά χαρακτηρισμένη εμβρυονική σειρά πολυδύναμων βλαστοκυττάρων. Οι iPS-κυτταρικές σειρές μελετήθηκαν, επίσης, ως προς τη λειτουργική τους πολυδυναμία με τον έλεγχο της ικανότητας τους να δημιουργούν in vitro εμβρυϊκά σωματίδια και in vivo τερατώματα μετά από υποδόρια εμφύτευση τους σε ανοσοανεπαρκείς ποντικούς, και ως προς τη δυνατότητα διαφοροποίησής τους σε αιμοποιητικά προγονικά κύτταρα. Η γενετική σταθερότητα των κυτταρικών σειρών ελέγχθηκε με DNA μικροσυστοιχίες συγκριτικού γονιδιωματικού υβριδισμού (aCGH). Απομονώθηκαν 3 iPS κυτταρικές σειρές από κάθε δείγμα κυττάρων, οι οποίες εμφανίζουν μεταγράφωμα πανομοιότυπο με εκείνο των πολυδύναμων εμβρυονικών βλαστοκυττάρων και. δημιουργούν εμβρυϊκά σωματίδια in vitro και τερατώματα in vivo, τα οποία αποτελούνται από ιστούς καταγωγής και από τα τρία βλαστικά δέρματα. Τα iPSCs των κυτταρικών σειρών πολλαπλασιάζονται για μεγάλο χρονικό διάστημα χωρίς μορφολογικές ενδείξες διαφοροποίησης. Με τη μέθοδο aCGH, στις iPS κυτταρικές σειρές μετά την 10η ανακαλλιέργεια ανιχνεύθηκαν πολυμορφισμοί στον αριθμό αντιγράφων (CNVs), τα οποία ήταν ελλείμματα μεγέθους περίπου 3 Mb. Η διαφοροποίηση των iPSCs σε αιμοποιητικά προγονικά κύτταρα οδήγησε στην παραγωγή CD34+ κυττάρων σε ποσοστό 8-10% των παραχθέντων κυττάρων με ασθενούς έντασης συνέκφραση του CD45, προσομοιάζοντας στο αιμαγγειακό στελεχιαίο κύτταρο. Στην παρούσα διατριβή παρουσιάζεται, για πρώτη φορά στην Ελλάδα, εξ όσων γνωρίζουμε, η τεχνολογία παραγωγής ανθρώπινων iPSCs με μια ασφαλή και αξιόπιστη μέθοδο. Οι iPSCs-κυτταρικές σειρές μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθούν στη μελέτη ασθενειών, στον έλεγχο φαρμάκων και στην ανάπτυξη πρωτοκόλλων ιστικής μηχανικής και κυτταρικής θεραπείας.


Author(s):  
Hao Xu ◽  
Liying Wu ◽  
Guojia Yuan ◽  
Xiaolu Liang ◽  
Xiaoguang Liu ◽  
...  

: Hepatic disease negatively impacts liver function and metabolism. Primary human hepatocytes are the gold standard for the prediction and successful treatment of liver disease. However, the sources of hepatocytes for drug toxicity testing and disease modeling are limited. To overcome this issue, pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have emerged as an alternative strategy for liver disease therapy. Human PSCs, including embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) can self-renew and give rise to all cells of the body. Human PSCs are attractive cell sources for regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, drug discovery, and developmental studies. Several recent studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can also differentiate (or trans-differentiate) into hepatocytes. Differentiation of human PSCs and MSCs into functional hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) opens new strategies to study genetic diseases, hepatotoxicity, infection of hepatotropic viruses, and analyze hepatic biology. Numerous in vitro and in vivo differentiation protocols have been established to obtain human PSCs/MSCs-derived HLCs and mimic their characteristics. It was recently discovered that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in controlling the ectopic expression of transcription factors and governing the hepatocyte differentiation of human PSCs and MSCs. In this review, we focused on the role of miRNAs in the differentiation of human PSCs and MSCs into hepatocytes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (17) ◽  
pp. 6124
Author(s):  
Clara Sanjurjo-Rodríguez ◽  
Rocío Castro-Viñuelas ◽  
María Piñeiro-Ramil ◽  
Silvia Rodríguez-Fernández ◽  
Isaac Fuentes-Boquete ◽  
...  

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent an unlimited source of pluripotent cells capable of differentiating into any cell type of the body. Several studies have demonstrated the valuable use of iPSCs as a tool for studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying disorders affecting bone, cartilage and muscle, as well as their potential for tissue repair. Musculoskeletal diseases are one of the major causes of disability worldwide and impose an important socio-economic burden. To date there is neither cure nor proven approach for effectively treating most of these conditions and therefore new strategies involving the use of cells have been increasingly investigated in the recent years. Nevertheless, some limitations related to the safety and differentiation protocols among others remain, which humpers the translational application of these strategies. Nonetheless, the potential is indisputable and iPSCs are likely to be a source of different types of cells useful in the musculoskeletal field, for either disease modeling or regenerative medicine. In this review, we aim to illustrate the great potential of iPSCs by summarizing and discussing the in vitro tissue regeneration preclinical studies that have been carried out in the musculoskeletal field by using iPSCs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Sun Hwang ◽  
Shinnosuke Suzuki ◽  
Yasunari Seita ◽  
Jumpei Ito ◽  
Yuka Sakata ◽  
...  

Abstract Establishment of spermatogonia throughout the fetal and postnatal period is essential for production of spermatozoa and male fertility. Here, we establish a protocol for in vitro reconstitution of human prospermatogonial specification whereby human primordial germ cell (PGC)-like cells differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells are further induced into M-prospermatogonia-like cells and T1 prospermatogonia-like cells (T1LCs) using long-term cultured xenogeneic reconstituted testes. Single cell RNA-sequencing is used to delineate the lineage trajectory leading to T1LCs, which closely resemble human T1-prospermatogonia in vivo and exhibit gene expression related to spermatogenesis and diminished proliferation, a hallmark of quiescent T1 prospermatogonia. Notably, this system enables us to visualize the dynamic and stage-specific regulation of transposable elements during human prospermatogonial specification. Together, our findings pave the way for understanding and reconstructing human male germline development in vitro.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (17) ◽  
pp. 8380-8389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralitsa R. Madsen ◽  
Rachel G. Knox ◽  
Wayne Pearce ◽  
Saioa Lopez ◽  
Betania Mahler-Araujo ◽  
...  

ThePIK3CAgene, which encodes the p110α catalytic subunit of PI3 kinase (PI3K), is mutationally activated in cancer and in overgrowth disorders known asPIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS). To determine the consequences of geneticPIK3CAactivation in a developmental context of relevance to both PROS and cancer, we engineered isogenic human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with heterozygous or homozygous knockin ofPIK3CAH1047R. While heterozygous iPSCs remained largely similar to wild-type cells, homozygosity forPIK3CAH1047Rcaused widespread, cancer-like transcriptional remodeling, partial loss of epithelial morphology, up-regulation of stemness markers, and impaired differentiation to all three germ layers in vitro and in vivo. Genetic analysis ofPIK3CA-associated cancers revealed that 64% had multiple oncogenicPIK3CAcopies (39%) or additional PI3K signaling pathway-activating “hits” (25%). This contrasts with the prevailing view thatPIK3CAmutations occur heterozygously in cancer. Our findings suggest that a PI3K activity threshold determines pathological consequences of oncogenicPIK3CAactivation and provide insight into the specific role of this pathway in human pluripotent stem cells.


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