Abstract
Several receptor-mediated signaling pathways are involved in the self-renewal or differentiation of pluripotent stem cells such as embryonic stem (ES) cells or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The activation of the JAK/STAT pathway induced by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) plays a critical role in the self-renewal of mouse ES or iPS cells. However, it has been demonstrated that fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) maintains self-renewal of human ES or iPS cells by supporting stable expression of the extracellular matrix proteins through the activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. Recent studies confirm that both the MEK/ERK and the PI3K/Akt pathways are involved in the self-renewal of both mouse ES cells and iPS cells. We have also revealed that stimulation of either α1-adrenoceptor or angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) leads to an increase in human iPS cell proliferation via Gq-dependent MEK/ERK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways independent of FGF2.
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