The in vivo genetic program of murine primordial lung epithelial progenitors.

Multipotent Nkx2-1-positive lung epithelial primordial progenitors of the foregut endoderm are thought to be the developmental precursors to all adult lung epithelial lineages. However, little is known about the global transcriptomic programs or gene networks that regulate these gateway progenitors in vivo. Here we use bulk RNA-sequencing to describe the unique genetic program of in vivo murine lung primordial progenitors and computationally identify signaling pathways, such as Wnt and Tgf-ß superfamily pathways, that are involved in their cell-fate determination from pre-specified embryonic foregut. We integrate this information in computational models to generate in vitro engineered lung primordial progenitors from mouse pluripotent stem cells, improving the fidelity of the resulting cells through unbiased, easy-to-interpret similarity scores and modulation of cell culture conditions, including substratum elastic modulus and extracellular matrix composition. The methodology proposed here can have wide applicability to the in vitro derivation of bona fide tissue progenitors of all germ layers.

Lateral cerebellum is preferentially sensitive to high sonic hedgehog signaling and medulloblastoma formation.

The main cell of origin of the Sonic hedgehog (SHH) subgroup of medulloblastoma (MB) is granule cell precursors (GCPs), a SHH-dependent transient amplifying population in the developing cerebellum. SHH-MBs can be further subdivided based on molecular and clinical parameters, as well as location because SHH-MBs occur preferentially in the lateral cerebellum (hemispheres). Our analysis of adult patient data suggests that tumors with Smoothened (SMO) mutations form more specifically in the hemispheres than those with Patched 1 (PTCH1) mutations. Using sporadic mouse models of SHH-MB with the two mutations commonly seen in adult MB, constitutive activation of Smo (SmoM2) or loss-of-Ptch1, we found that regardless of timing of induction or type of mutation, tumors developed primarily in the hemispheres, with SmoM2-mutants indeed showing a stronger specificity. We further uncovered that GCPs in the hemispheres are more susceptible to high-level SHH signaling compared with GCPs in the medial cerebellum (vermis), as more SmoM2 or Ptch1-mutant hemisphere cells remain undifferentiated and show increased tumorigenicity when transplanted. Finally, we identified location-specific GCP gene-expression profiles, and found that deletion of the genes most highly expressed in the hemispheres (Nr2f2) or vermis (Engrailed1) showed opposing effects on GCP differentiation. Our studies thus provide insights into intrinsic differences within GCPs that impact on SHH-MB progression.

Thyroid Progenitors Are Robustly Derived from Embryonic Stem Cells through Transient, Developmental Stage-Specific Overexpression of Nkx2-1.

The clinical importance of anterior foregut endoderm (AFE) derivatives, such as thyrocytes, has led to intense research efforts for their derivation through directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). Here, we identify transient overexpression of the transcription factor (TF) NKX2-1 as a powerful inductive signal for the robust derivation of thyrocyte-like cells from mouse PSC-derived AFE. This effect is highly developmental stage specific and dependent on FOXA2 expression levels and precise modulation of BMP and FGF signaling. The majority of the resulting cells express thyroid TFs (Nkx2-1, Pax8, Foxe1, Hhex) and thyroid hormone synthesis-related genes (Tg, Tpo, Nis, Iyd) at levels similar to adult mouse thyroid and give rise to functional follicle-like epithelial structures in Matrigel culture. Our findings demonstrate that NKX2-1 overexpression converts AFE to thyroid epithelium in a developmental time-sensitive manner and suggest a general methodology for manipulation of cell-fate decisions of developmental intermediates.