Characterization of six new human embryonic stem cell lines (HSF7, -8, -9, -10, -12, and -13) derived under minimal-animal component conditions.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) provide a renewable source of a variety of cell types with the potential for use in both scientific research and clinical cell-based therapy. Several hESC lines have previously been isolated and characterized, however, the majority of these lines were generated in the presence of animal serum and animal-derived feeder cells. Therefore, the exposure of the hESC to animal products may have induced phenotypic and/or genomic changes in the hESC lines not characteristic of normal hESC. Moreover, those hESC lines exposed to animal components may not be used for therapeutic applications due to the risk of graft rejection and pathogenic transmission from animal sources. In this study, we characterized six new hESC lines derived from human blastocysts under minimal-animal component conditions and cultured with human fetal lung fibroblasts. The hESC lines retained the ability to self-renew, are karytopically normal, and express stage-specific embryonic antigen-3 (SSEA-3), SSEA-4, TRA-1-60, and TRA-1-81, but not SSEA-1, markers of pluripotent hESC. In addition, we show that telomerase activity decreased in each of the hESC lines following differentiation into embryoid bodies, albeit to different degrees. Finally, we demonstrate that the hESC lines are capable of differentiating into the three embryonic germ layers in vitro and form complex teratomas in vivo. This suggests that the hESC lines described here are valuable models for both future in vitro and in vivo studies, which may aid in the progression toward clinical-grade cell therapy.

Overexpression of Nodal promotes differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells into mesoderm and endoderm at the expense of neuroectoderm formation.

Understanding how to direct the fate of embryonic stem (ES) cells upon differentiation is critical to their eventual use in therapeutic applications. Clues for controlling ES cell differentiation may be found in the early embryo because mouse ES cells form derivatives of all three embryonic germ layers upon injection into blastocysts. One promising candidate for influencing the differentiation of ES cells into the embryonic germ layers is the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) growth factor, Nodal. Nodal null mouse mutants lack mesoderm, and injection of Nodal mRNA into nonmammalian embryos induces mesodermal and endodermal tissues. We find that overexpression of Nodal in mouse ES cells leads not only to up-regulation of mesodermal and endodermal cell markers but also to downregulation of neuroectodermal markers. These findings demonstrate the importance of Nodal's influence on the differentiation of pluripotent cells to all three of the primary germ layers. Accordingly, altering expression of factors responsible for cell differentiation in the intact embryo provides an approach for directing ES cell fates in vitro toward therapeutically useful cell types.

Polybromo protein BAF180 functions in mammalian cardiac chamber maturation.

BAF and PBAF are two related mammalian chromatin remodeling complexes essential for gene expression and development. PBAF, but not BAF, is able to potentiate transcriptional activation in vitro mediated by nuclear receptors, such as RXRalpha, VDR, and PPARgamma. Here we show that the ablation of PBAF-specific subunit BAF180 in mouse embryos results in severe hypoplastic ventricle development and trophoblast placental defects, similar to those found in mice lacking RXRalpha and PPARgamma. Embryonic aggregation analyses reveal that in contrast to PPARgamma-deficient mice, the heart defects are likely a direct result of BAF180 ablation, rather than an indirect consequence of trophoblast placental defects. We identified potential target genes for BAF180 in heart development, such as S100A13 as well as retinoic acid (RA)-induced targets RARbeta2 and CRABPII. Importantly, BAF180 is recruited to the promoter of these target genes and BAF180 deficiency affects the RA response for CRABPII and RARbeta2. These studies reveal unique functions of PBAF in cardiac chamber maturation.

Propagation and maintenance of undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells.

Human embryonic stem (hES) cells, like other stem cells, have the capacity to self-renew without differentiation. Although hES cells can be differentiated to many different tissue types in vitro, clinical uses have not yet been realized from the study of hES cells. Anticipation that these cells would be immediately useful for creating models of human disease has not yet been fulfilled. However, because of their self-renewing and pluripotential nature, hES cells indeed hold unique promise for many areas of research and medicine. A major problem complicating developments in hES cell research is the difficulty of propagating and maintaining these cells in vitro without differentiation. This review addresses this problem and potential solutions in detail. In addition, the current state of research regarding the growth and maintenance of hES cells is summarized, along with basic protocols utilized by our laboratory for the successful propagation, characterization, and investigation of hES cells.