ABSTRACT
The current work reports the functional characterization of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)- arterial and venous-like endothelial cells (ECs), derived in chemically defined conditions, either in monoculture or seeded in a scaffold with mechanical properties similar to blood vessels. iPSC-derived arterial- and venous-like endothelial cells were obtained in two steps: differentiation of iPSCs into endothelial precursor cells (CD31pos/KDRpos/VE-Cadmed/EphB2neg/COUP-TFneg) followed by their differentiation into arterial and venous-like ECs using a high and low vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) concentration. Cells were characterized at gene, protein and functional levels. Functionally, both arterial and venous-like iPSC-derived ECs responded to vasoactive agonists such as thrombin and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), similar to somatic ECs; however, arterial-like iPSC-derived ECs produced higher nitric oxide (NO) and elongation to shear stress than venous-like iPSC-derived ECs. Both cells adhered, proliferated and prevented platelet activation when seeded in poly(caprolactone) scaffolds. Interestingly, both iPSC-derived ECs cultured in monoculture or in a scaffold showed a different inflammatory profile than somatic ECs. Although both somatic and iPSC-derived ECs responded to tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) by an increase in the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), only somatic ECs showed an upregulation in the expression of E-selectin or vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1).
Subject(s)
Cell Differentiation/drug effects , Endothelial Cells/metabolism , Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/cytology , Arteries/cytology , Arteries/drug effects , Arteries/metabolism , Endothelial Cells/cytology , Endothelial Cells/drug effects , Humans , Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/drug effects , Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1/metabolism , Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/pharmacology , Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1/metabolism , Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/pharmacology , Veins/cytology , Veins/drug effects , Veins/metabolismABSTRACT
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent today an invaluable tool to create disease cell models for modeling and drug screening. Several lines of iPSCs have been generated in the last 7 years that changed the paradigm for studying diseases and the discovery of new drugs to treat them. In this article we focus our attention to vascular diseases in particular Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), a devastating premature aging disease caused by a mutation in the lamin A gene. In general, patients die because of myocardial infarction or stroke. Because the patients are fragile the isolation of a particular type of cells is very difficult. Therefore in the last 5 years, researchers have used cells derived from iPSCs to model aspects of the HGPS and to screen libraries of chemicals to retard or treat the disease.
