Abstract P001: HDAC1 Plays an Important Role in the Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into Cardiovascular Lineages

Abstract

Despite advancements in the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI), the majority of patients are at increased risk for developing heart failure due to the loss of cardiomyocytes and microvasculature. Some of the main obstacles in the realization of the full potential of iPS/ES cells arise from incomplete and poorly understood molecular mechanisms and epigenetic modifications that govern their pluripotency and directed differentiation. Real-time array experiments revealed that HDAC1 is highly expressed in pluripotent cells. Additionally the lack of this molecule is embryonic lethal, suggesting it plays a key role in development. Thus, we hypothesized that HDAC1 plays a critical role in directing cardiovascular differentiation of mES and iPS cells in vitro. HDAC1 was knocked down in mES cells (C57BL/6) and iPS cells using a shRNA vector. Differentiation through embryoid body (EB) was induced in wild type mES cells and iPS cells and in their HDAC1-null counterparts and the ability of these cells to differentiate into three early embryonic lineages and more specifically cardiovascular lineage was monitored. EBs lacking HDAC1 differentiated slower and showed delayed suppression of pluripotent genes such as Oct4 and Sox2. ChiP experiments revealed high histone acetylation levels at the promoter regions of these genes during early differentiation. In addition cells lacking HDAC1 showed reduced expression of early markers for all three germ layers. HDAC1-null EBs also showed delayed and reduced spontaneous beating. Expression of cardiomyocite markers as well as markers of other cardiovascular lineages was repressed in HDAC1 -null cells. However, supplementation with BMP2 during early differentiation recovered the ability in the HDAC1-null cells to differentiate into endodermal and mesodermal lineages, but not ectodermal. We propose that HDAC1 plays a critical role in early development and cardiovascular differentiation of mES and iPS cells by repressing pluripotent genes and allowing for expression of early developmental genes such as SOX17 and BMP2. Further research in the molecular mechanisms involved in this process will greatly aid our understanding of the epigenetic circuitry of pluripotency and differentiation in ES and iPS cells.