EGFR deficiency leads to impaired self-renewal and pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells.

BACKGROUND: Self-renewal and pluripotency are considered as unwavering features of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). How ESCs regulate the self-renewal and differentiation is a central question in development and regenerative medicine research. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was identified as a critical regulator in embryonic development, but its role in the maintenance of ESCs is poorly understood. METHODS: Here, EGFR was disrupted by its specific inhibitor AG1478 in mouse ESCs (mESCs), and its self-renewal and pluripotency were characterized according to their proliferation, expression of pluripotency markers, embryoid body (EB) formation, and mRNA expression patterns. We also used another EGFR inhibitor (gefitinib) and RNA interference assay to rule out the possibility of non-specific effects of AG1478. RESULTS: EGFR inhibition by AG1478 treatment in mESCs markedly reduced cell proliferation, caused cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase, and altered protein expressions of the cell cycle regulatory genes (CDK2 (decreased 11.3%) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (decreased 25.2%)). The immunoreactivities and protein expression of pluripotency factors (OCT4 (decreased 26.9%)) also dramatically decreased, while the differentiation related genes (GATA4 (increased 1.6-fold)) were up-regulated in mESCs after EGFR inhibition. Meanwhile, EGFR inhibition in mESCs disrupted EB formation, indicating its impaired pluripotency. Additionally, the effects observed by EGFR inhibition with another inhibitor gefitinib and siRNA were consistent with those observed by AG1478 treatment in mESCs. These effects were manifested in the decreased expression of proliferative and pluripotency-related genes and the increased expression of genes involved in differentiation. Moreover, RNA-seq analysis displayed that transcript profiling was changed significantly after EGFR inhibition by AG1478. A large number of differentially expressed genes were involved in cell cycle, apoptotic process, epigenetic modification, and metabolic process, which were related to self-renewal and pluripotency, confirming that EGFR deficiency impaired self-renewal and pluripotency in mESCs. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our results demonstrated the importance of EGFR in guarding the stemness of mESCs.

Integrative Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Profiling of Testis from Wip1 Phosphatase-Knockout Mice: Insights into Mechanisms of Reduced Fertility.

Mice lacking wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1 (Wip1) display male reproductive defects including smaller testes, subfertility and spermatogenesis defects at the round- and elongating-spermatid stages. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these abnormalities remain unclear. Here we examined the proteome and phosphoproteome of testes from Wip1-knockout mice using a quantitative proteomic approach. From a total of 6872 proteins and 4280 phosphorylation sites identified, 58 proteins and 159 phosphorylation sites were found to be differentially regulated compared with wild type mice. Pathway enrichment analyses revealed that these regulated proteins and phosphosites were mainly involved in adherens/tight junctions, apoptosis, inflammatory response, spermatogenesis, sperm motility, and cytoskeletal assembly and depolymerization. Wip1-knockout mice showed decreased expression of junction-associated proteins (occludin, ZO-1, and N-cadherin) and impaired integrity of the blood-testis barrier. In addition, Wip1 deficiency was associated with elevated levels of cytokines and germ cell apoptosis in the testis. These results suggest that proinflammatory cytokines may impair the blood-testis barrier dynamics by decreasing the expression of junction-associated proteins, which could lead to subfertility and spermatogenesis defects. Collectively, these findings help to explain the low reproductive function caused by Wip1 deletion and provide novel insights into our understanding of causes of male infertility.

Four recombinant pluripotency transcriptional factors containing a protein transduction domain maintained the in vitro pluripotency of chicken embryonic stem cells.

Long-term in vitro maintenance of embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency enables the pluripotency and differentiation of ESCs in animals to be investigated. The ability to successfully maintain and differentiate chicken embryonic stem cells (cESCs) would provide a useful tool for avian biology research and would be a resource directly applicable to agricultural production. In this study, endogenous chicken pluripotency transcription factors, POUV, Sox-2, Nanog and Lin28 were cloned and expressed as recombinant proteins containing a nine consecutive arginine protein transduction domain (PTD). cESCs were cultured with these recombinant proteins to maintain cESC pluripotency in vitro. Cultured cESCs exhibited typical characteristics of pluripotency, even after six generations of rapid doubling, including positive staining for stage-specific embryonic antigen I, and strong staining for alkaline phosphatase. Expression levels of the pluripotency markers, POUV, Nanog, C-Myc, Sox-2 and Lin28 were the same as in uncultured stage X blastoderm cells, and most significantly, the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) by 6th generation cESCs confirmed the ability of these cultured cESCs to differentiate into cells of all three embryonic germ layers. Thus, transcription factors could be translocated through the cell membrane into the intracellular space of cESCs by using a PTD of nine consecutive arginines and the pluripotency of cESCs could be maintained in vitro for at least six generations.