Differentiating Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) Into Lung Epithelial Cells.

Abstract

Human induced pluripotentstem cells(hiPSCs) not only offer great opportunities for the study of human development but also have tremendous potential for future clinicalcell-based therapies.The protocol outlined here is used to differentiate hiPSCs into lung epithelial cell types through a process that faithfully recapitulates the stepwise events observed in vivo. From pluripotency, cells are differentiated to a definitive endoderm fate, followed by progression into anteriorized foregut endoderm that has the ability to give rise to both proximal and distal epithelial cells. Furthermore, this methodology allows for the study of lung dysfunction and disease modeling using patient-derived cells, as well as high-throughput pharmacological screening and eventually personalized therapies. Recently we were able to reproduce this protocol using the working cell bank of an hiPSC line made under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) conditions, a necessary step for the future clinical application of thesecells. © 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.