iPSC Derivatives Research Articles

Immunogenicity and functional evaluation of iPSC-derived organs for transplantation.

Whether physiologically induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived organs are immunogenic and can be used for transplantation is unclear. Here, we generated iPSC-derived skin, islet, and heart representing three germ layers of the body through 4n complementation and evaluated their immunogenicity and therapeutic efficacy. Upon transplantation into recipient mice, iPSC-derived skin successfully survived and repaired local tissue wounds. In diabetic mouse models, explanted iPSC-derived islets effectively produced insulin and lowered blood glucose to basal levels. iPSC-derived heart grafts maintained normal beating for more than 3 months in syngeneic recipients. Importantly, no obvious immune rejection responses against iPSC-derived organs were detected long after transplantation. Our study not only demonstrates the fundamental immunogenicity and function of iPSC derivatives, but also provides preclinical evidence to support the feasibility of using iPSC-derived skin, islet, and heart for therapeutic use.

Derivation, Expansion, and Motor Neuron Differentiation of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Non-Integrating Episomal Vectors and a Defined Xenogeneic-free Culture System.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from patient-derived somatic cells provides the opportunity for model development in order to study patient-specific disease states with the potential for drug discovery. However, use of lentivirus and exposure of iPSCs to animal-derived products limit their therapeutic utility and affect lineage differentiation and subsequent downstream functionality of iPSC derivatives. Within the context of this study, we describe a simple and practical protocol enabling the efficient reprogramming of terminally differentiated adult fibroblasts into integration-free human iPSCs (hiPSCs) using a combination of episomal plasmids with small molecules (SMs). Using this approach, there was a 10-fold increase in reprogramming efficiency over single plasmid vector-based methods. We obtained approximately 100 iPSCs colonies from 1 × 10(5) human adult dermal fibroblasts (HADFs) and achieved approximately 0.1% reprogramming efficiencies. Concurrently, we developed a highly conducive culture system using xeno-free media and human vitronectin. The resulting hiPSCs were free of DNA integration and had completely lost episomal vectors, maintained long-term self-renewal, featured a normal karyotype, expressed pluripotent stem cell markers, and possessed the capability of differentiating into components of all three germ layers in vivo. Finally, we demonstrate that the integration-free hiPSCs could be differentiated into motor neurons under xeno-free culture conditions. This induction method will promote the derivation of patient-specific integration-free and xeno-free iPSCs and improve the strategy for motor neuron derivation. Our approach provides a useful tool for human disease models, drug screen, and clinical applications.

Generation of CF-patient derived iPS cells and efficient footprintless designer nuclease-based gene targeting

*Presenting author The ability to genetically modify human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), including the correction of gene defects by means of homologous recombination (HR) is of great interest regarding their potential for ex vivo gene therapy, especially in terms of rare pulmonary diseases like Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Genetic engineering of hiPSCs via customized designer nucleases has been shown to be significantly more efficient than conventional gene targeting, but still typically depends on the introduction of additional genetic selection elements. For the generation of CF patient-specific iPS cells, endothelial cells from the peripheral blood or fibroblasts from skin biopsies of CF-patients were isolated and reprogrammed through lentiviral overexpression of pluripotency factors. The CF-iPS cells, homozygous for F508del mutation, morphologically resemble human embryonic stem cells, express pluripotency markers and could be differentiated in vitro into derivatives of all three germ layers. For gene targeting approaches we developed a protocol for the establishment of efficient non-viral and selection-independent gene targeting in hESCs and hiPSCs. The protocol was applied to target the endogenous safe harbour locus AAVS1. Here, by using ZFNs and TALENs, targeting efficiencies of up to 1.6% were demonstrated for one hESC and two hiPSC lines, and stable transgenic PSC lines were generated by FACSorting. The high targeting efficiencies obtained allowed for direct PCR screening of correctly targeted clones by applying TALENs together with short single stranded oligonucleotide donors without any pre-selection (Merkert et al.). Targeting the underlying genetic defect in our CF iPSCs revealed targeted integration of the missing base pairs, as demonstrated in cell pools. The establishment of single cell clones is currently ongoing. The established targeting protocol will enable footprint less gene correction and transgene-independent isolation of mutation-corrected CF-iPSC clones which will facilitate disease modelling, drug screening and, ultimately, the generation of clinically useful transgenic iPSC derivatives. Reference: Merkert, S., Wunderlich, S., Bednarski, C., Beier, J., Haase, A., Dreyer, A.-K., Schwanke, K., Meyer, J., Gohring, G., Cathomen, T., and Martin, U. (2014). Efficient designer nuclease-based homologous recombination enables direct PCR screening for footprint less targeted human pluripotent stem cell clones. Stem Cell Reports 2, 107 – 118.

Cells derived from iPSC can be immunogenic — Yes or No?

The induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), derived by ectopic expression of reprogramming factors in somatic cells, can potentially provide unlimited autologous cells for regenerative medicine. In theory, the autologous cells derived from patient iPSCs should be immune tolerant by the host without any immune rejections. However, our recent studies have found that even syngeneic iPSC-derived cells can be immunogenic in syngeneic hosts by using a teratoma transplantation model (Nature 474:212–215, 2011). Recently two research groups differentiated the iPSCs into different germ layers or cells, transplanted those cells to the syngeneic hosts, and evaluated the immunogenicity of those cells. Both of the two studies support our conclusions that some certain but not all tissues derived from iPSCs can be immunogenic, although they claimed either “negligible” or “lack of” immunogenicity in iPSC derivatives (Nature 494:100–104, 2013; Cell Stem Cell 12:407–412, 2013). To test the immunogenicity of clinically valuable cells differentiated from human iPSCs are emergently required for translation of iPSC technology to clinics.

The immunogenicity of cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells

With their ability to undergo unlimited self-renewal in culture and to differentiate into all cell types in the body, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great potential for the treatment of currently incurable diseases. Two hESC-based cell therapies for spinal cord injury and macular degeneration have been advanced into human clinical trials. Despite this rapid progress, one key challenge of hESC-based cell therapy is the allogeneic immune rejection of hESC-derived cells by recipients. This problem could be mitigated by a recent breakthrough in the technology of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by nuclear reprogramming of patient-specific somatic cells with defined factors, which could become a renewable source of autologous cells for cell therapy. However, recent studies revealing the abnormal epigenetics, genomic stability and immunogenicity of iPSCs have raised safety concerns over iPSC-based therapy. Recent findings related to the immunogenicity of iPSC derivatives will be summarized in this review.

IPSC-Based Cell Therapy: An Important Step Forward

Morizane et al. (2013) show that donor-matched differentiated derivatives of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) do not cause an immune response after transplantation, whereas transplantation of HLA-mismatched iPSC derivatives to the same site clearly does. The importance of these results is discussed in this commentary as we assess how best to move forward with iPSC-based cell therapy.

Cells derived from iPSC can be immunogenic — Yes or No?

The induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), derived by ectopic expression of reprogramming factors in somatic cells, can potentially provide unlimited autologous cells for regenerative medicine. In theory, the autologous cells derived from patient iPSCs should be immune tolerant by the host without any immune rejections. However, our recent studies have found that even syngeneic iPSC-derived cells can be immunogenic in syngeneic hosts by using a teratoma transplantation model (Nature 474:212–215, 2011). Recently two research groups differentiated the iPSCs into different germ layers or cells, transplanted those cells to the syngeneic hosts, and evaluated the immunogenicity of those cells. Both of the two studies support our conclusions that some certain but not all tissues derived from iPSCs can be immunogenic, although they claimed either “negligible” or “lack of” immunogenicity in iPSC derivatives (Nature 494:100–104, 2013; Cell Stem Cell 12:407–412, 2013). To test the immunogenicity of clinically valuable cells differentiated from human iPSCs are emergently required for translation of iPSC technology to clinics.

Human iPS cell–derived hematopoietic progenitor cells induce T-cell anergy in in vitro–generated alloreactive CD8+ T cells

AbstractHuman induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have emerged as an alternative source of pluripotent stem cells that can be used for tissue regeneration in place of the controversial human embryonic stem cells. However, immunologic knowledge about iPSC derivatives remains enigmatic. Here, we characterized human iPS-derived CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). These HPCs poorly express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I antigens and are MHC-II negative. Interestingly, they moderately express nonclassical HLA-G and HLA-E molecules. Consequently, alloreactive HLA-A2–specific cytotoxic T cells failed to recognize HLA-A2–expressing HPCs but became anergic. Subsequent upregulation of MHC-I using interferon-γ stimulation and provision of CD28 cosignaling led to T-cell activation, confirming that poor delivery of signals 1 and 2 by the HPCs mediated T-cell anergy. These data indicate for the first time that HPCs induce T-cell anergy, a unique characteristic of iPSC-derived cells that confers immunologic advantage for allogenic transplantation. Although iPSCs are ideal for patient-tailored treatments with the anticipation that no immunosuppression will be required, in cases of gene defects, their derivatives could be used to treat diseases in nonhistocompatible recipients.

Identifying Candidate Oocyte Reprogramming Factors Using Cross-Species Global Transcriptional Analysis

There is mounting evidence to suggest that the epigenetic reprogramming capacity of the oocyte is superior to that of the current factor-based reprogramming approaches and that some factor-reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) retain a degree of epigenetic memory that can influence differentiation capacity and may be linked to the observed expression of immunogenicity genes in iPSC derivatives. One hypothesis for this differential reprogramming capacity is the "chromatin loosening/enhanced reprogramming" concept, as previously described by John Gurdon and Ian Wilmut, as well as others, which postulates that the oocyte possesses factors that loosen the somatic cell chromatin structure, providing the epigenetic and transcriptional regulatory factors more ready access to repressed genes and thereby significantly increasing epigenetic reprogramming. However, to empirically test this hypothesis a list of candidate oocyte reprogramming factors (CORFs) must be ascertained that are significantly expressed in metaphase II oocytes. Previous studies have focused on intraspecies or cross-species transcriptional analysis of up to two different species of oocytes. In this study, we have identified eight CORFs (ARID2, ASF1A, ASF1B, DPPA3, ING3, MSL3, H1FOO, and KDM6B) based on unbiased global transcriptional analysis of oocytes from three different species (human, rhesus monkey, and mouse) that both demonstrate significant (p<0.05, FC>3) expression in oocytes of all three species and have well-established roles in loosening/opening up chromatin structure. We also identified an additional 15 CORFs that fit within our proposed "chromatin opening/fate transformative" (COFT) model. These CORFs may be able to augment Shinya Yamanaka's previously identified reprogramming factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and cMYC) and potentially facilitate the removal of epigenetic memory in iPSCs and/or reduce the expression of immunogenicity genes in iPSC derivatives, and may have applications in future personalized pluripotent stem cell based therapeutics.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Consensus Genes: Implication for the Risk of Tumorigenesis and Cancers in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapy

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have recently boomed enthusiasm in stem cell therapy, whereas high potential tumorigenesis of iPSCs has become the biggest obstacle for clinic application and the tumorigenic genes in iPSCs have not been well documented. In this investigation, using tools of bioinformatics, we analyzed the all available datasets regarded to iPSCs from 11 differentiated cell lines and revealed 593 iPSC consensus genes. Notably, of the 593 genes, 209 were expressed in human tumor cell lines and cancer tissues, and some of them were expressed in the iPSC-differentiated hepatocytes; remarkably, 5 oncogenes were overexpressed in the iPSCs and an oncogene RAB25 in the iPSC-differentiated cells, suggesting that these iPSC consensus genes are implicated with the risk of tumorigenesis and cancers. This investigation provides useful information for designing new strategies and methods to curtail the expression of oncogenic genes in iPSCs and produce safe iPSC derivatives for stem cell therapy.

Challenges to the clinical application of pluripotent stem cells: towards genomic and functional stability

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can undergo unlimited self-renewal and are pluripotent, retaining the ability to differentiate into all cell types in the body. As a renewable source of various types of human cells, hESCs hold great therapeutic potential. Although significant advances have been achieved in defining the conditions needed to differentiate hESCs into various types of biologically active cells, many challenges remain in the clinical development of hESC-based cell therapy, such as the immune rejection of allogeneic hESC-derived cells by recipients. Breakthroughs in the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are reprogrammed from somatic cells with defined factors, raise the hope that autologous cells derived from patient-specific iPSCs can be transplanted without immune rejection. However, recent genomic studies have revealed epigenetic and genetic abnormalities associated with induced pluripotency, a risk of teratomas, and immunogenicity of some iPSC derivatives. These findings have raised safety concerns for iPSC-based therapy. Here, we review recent advances in understanding the genomic and functional stability of human pluripotent stem cells, current challenges to their clinical application and the progress that has been made to overcome these challenges.

Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Human Cord Blood

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may represent an ideal cell source for future regenerative therapies. A critical issue concerning the clinical use of patient-specific iPSCs is the accumulation of mutations in somatic (stem) cells over an organism's lifetime. Acquired somatic mutations are passed onto iPSCs during reprogramming and may be associated with loss of cellular functions and cancer formation. Here we report the generation of human iPSCs from cord blood (CB) as a juvenescent cell source. CBiPSCs show characteristics typical of embryonic stem cells and can be differentiated into derivatives of all three germ layers, including functional cardiomyocytes. For future therapeutic production of autologous and allogeneic iPSC derivatives, CB could be routinely harvested for public and commercial CB banks without any donor risk. CB could readily become available for pediatric patients and, in particular, for newborns with genetic diseases or congenital malformations.