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Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 37848

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hyuk-Jin Cha

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Guest Editor

College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Interests: pluripotency; reprogramming; signaling; gene editing; disease modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Thanks to the recent advances in stem cell research, there are emerging applications of pluripotent stem cells. As pluripotency, a unique feature of pluripotent stem cells, enables the production of all types of cells in the human body, a variety of cell types derived from pluripotent stem cells would be a promising cell source, not only for regenerative medicine, but also in the basic sciences for disease mechanisms and development. Besides, the substantial advancement in gene-editing technology even extends the application of pluripotent stem cells to enable “human disease modelling” and “ex vivo cell therapy” for genetic diseases. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences covers the research interest in basic sciences of pluripotency, self-renewal, lineage differentiation, cellular reprogramming, and a wide range of applications of pluripotent stem cells to extend the future applications of pluripotent stem cells in a variety of scientific fields.

We encourage authors to submit original research and review articles that focus on the various biological features and applications of pluripotent stem cells. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

The basic mechanism of pluripotency maintenance and cellular reprogramming;
The basic science of the unique properties of pluripotent stem cells;
The therapeutic application and/or characterization of cells derived from pluripotent stem cells;
Genome editing in pluripotent stem cells;
Disease modeling with pluripotent stem cells;
Other applications of pluripotent stem cells.

Dr. Hyuk-Jin Cha
Guest Editor

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

pluripotent stem cells
pluripotency
reprogramming
applications
cell therapy
gene editing
differentiation
disease modeling

Published Papers (13 papers)

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15 pages, 7495 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Cumulative Formation of R-loop Interacts with Histone Modifications to Shape Cell Reprogramming

by Hanshuang Li, Chunshen Long, Yan Hong, Lemuge Chao, Yong Peng and Yongchun Zuo

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(3), 1567; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms23031567 - 29 Jan 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2691

Abstract

R-loop, a three-stranded RNA/DNA structure, plays important roles in modulating genome stability and gene expression, but the molecular mechanism of R-loops in cell reprogramming remains elusive. Here, we comprehensively profiled the genome-wide landscape of R-loops during cell reprogramming. The results showed that the R-loop formation on most different types of repetitive elements is stage-specific in cell reprogramming. We unveiled that the cumulative deposition of an R-loop subset is positively correlated with gene expression during reprogramming. More importantly, the dynamic turnover of this R-loop subset is accompanied by the activation of the pluripotent transcriptional regulatory network (TRN). Moreover, the large accumulation of the active histone marker H3K4me3 and the reduction in H3K27me3 were also observed in these R-loop regions. Finally, we characterized the dynamic network of R-loops that facilitates cell fate transitions in reprogramming. Together, our study provides a new clue for deciphering the interplay mechanism between R-loops and HMs to control cell reprogramming. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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15 pages, 1833 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling Transposition of the Great Arteries with Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

by Imelda Ontoria-Oviedo, Gabor Földes, Sandra Tejedor, Joaquín Panadero, Tomoya Kitani, Alejandro Vázquez, Joseph C. Wu, Sian E. Harding and Pilar Sepúlveda

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(24), 13270; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms222413270 - 09 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2286

Abstract

The dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) is one of the most common congenital heart diseases. To identify biological processes that could be related to the development of d-TGA, we established induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from two patients with d-TGA and from two healthy subjects (as controls) and differentiated them into endothelial cells (iPSC-ECs). iPSC-EC transcriptome profiling and bioinformatics analysis revealed differences in the expression level of genes involved in circulatory system and animal organ development. iPSC-ECs from patients with d-TGA showed impaired ability to develop tubular structures in an in vitro capillary-like tube formation assay, and interactome studies revealed downregulation of biological processes related to Notch signaling, circulatory system development and angiogenesis, pointing to alterations in vascular structure development. Our study provides an iPSC-based cellular model to investigate the etiology of d-TGA. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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12 pages, 21478 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combination of PD98059 and TGF-β1 Efficiently Differentiates Human Urine-Derived Stem Cells into Smooth Muscle Cells

by Yongha Hwang, Seon-Heui Cha, Donghee Kim and Hee-Sook Jun

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(19), 10532; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms221910532 - 29 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2061

Abstract

Pluripotent adult stem cells have potential applications in cell therapy and tissue engineering. Urine-derived stem cells (UDSCs) differentiate into various cell types. Here, we attempted to differentiate human UDSCs (hUDSCs) into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) using transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) and/or PD98059, an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) inhibitor. Both quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western blot analysis showed that the expression of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and proteins for alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), calponin (CNN1), and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (SM-MHC), which are specific markers for SMCs, increased on day 9 after differentiation and again on day 14. The differentiated cells from human UDSCs (hUDSCs) with a combination of TGF-β1 and PD98059 showed the highest expression of SMC marker proteins. Immunocytochemical staining performed to assess the molecular expression revealed CNN and α-SMA colocalizing in the cytoplasm. The cells that differentiated from hUDSCs with a combination of TGF-β1 and PD98059 showed the strongest expression for CNN1, α-SMA, and SM-MHC. Functional testing of the differentiated cells revealed a stronger contractile capacity for the cells differentiated with a combination of PD98059 and TGF-β1 than those differentiated with a single factor. These results suggest the combination of PD98059 and TGF-β1 to be a more effective differentiation method and that differentiated SMCs could be used for restoring the functions of the sphincter muscle or bladder. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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12 pages, 3168 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Derivation of Mouse Parthenogenetic Advanced Stem Cells

by Mengyi Wei, Jindun Zhang, Jia Liu, Chaoyue Zhao, Shuo Cao, Xiaojie Yan, Baojiang Wu and Siqin Bao

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(16), 8976; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22168976 - 20 Aug 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1861

Abstract

Parthenogenetic embryos have been widely studied as an effective tool related to paternal and maternal imprinting genes and reproductive problems for a long time. In this study, we established a parthenogenetic epiblast-like stem cell line through culturing parthenogenetic diploid blastocysts in a chemically defined medium containing activin A and bFGF named paAFSCs. The paAFSCs expressed pluripotent marker genes and germ-layer-related genes, as well as being alkaline-phosphatase-positive, which is similar to epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs). We previously showed that advanced embryonic stem cells (ASCs) represent hypermethylated naive pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Here, we converted paAFSCs to ASCs by replacing bFGF with bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), CHIR99021, and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in a culture medium, and we obtained parthenogenetic advanced stem cells (paASCs). The paASCs showed similar morphology with ESCs and also displayed a stronger developmental potential than paAFSCs in vivo by producing chimaeras. Our study demonstrates that maternal genes could support parthenogenetic EpiSCs derived from blastocysts and also have the potential to convert primed state paAFSCs to naive state paASCs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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18 pages, 5848 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Expression of RUNX1-JAK2 in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Hematopoietic Cells Activates the JAK-STAT and MYC Pathways

by Klaus Fortschegger, Anna-Maria Husa, Dagmar Schinnerl, Karin Nebral and Sabine Strehl

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(14), 7576; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22147576 - 15 Jul 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2652

Abstract

A heterogeneous genetic subtype of B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia is driven by constitutive kinase-activation, including patients with JAK2 fusions. In our study, we model the impact of a novel JAK2 fusion protein on hematopoietic development in human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). We insert the RUNX1-JAK2 fusion into one endogenous RUNX1 allele through employing in trans paired nicking genome editing. Tagging of the fusion with a degron facilitates protein depletion using the heterobifunctional compound dTAG-13. Throughout in vitro hematopoietic differentiation, the expression of RUNX1-JAK2 is driven by endogenous RUNX1 regulatory elements at physiological levels. Functional analysis reveals that RUNX1-JAK2 knock-in cell lines yield fewer hematopoietic progenitors, due to RUNX1 haploinsufficiency. Nevertheless, these progenitors further differentiate toward myeloid lineages to a similar extent as wild-type cells. The expression of the RUNX1-JAK2 fusion protein only elicits subtle effects on myeloid differentiation, and is unable to transform early hematopoietic progenitors. However, phosphoprotein and transcriptome analyses reveal that RUNX1-JAK2 constitutively activates JAK-STAT signaling in differentiating hiPSCs and at the same time upregulates MYC targets—confirming the interaction between these pathways. This proof-of-principle study indicates that conditional expression of oncogenic fusion proteins in combination with hematopoietic differentiation of hiPSCs may be applicable to leukemia-relevant disease modeling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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16 pages, 3034 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bioactive Lipid O-cyclic phytosphingosine-1-phosphate Promotes Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells into Cardiomyocytes via ALK3/BMPR Signaling

by Ji-Hye Jang, Min-Seong Kim, Ainsley Mike Antao, Won-Jun Jo, Hyung-Joon Kim, Su-Jin Kim, Myeong-Jun Choi, Suresh Ramakrishna and Kye-Seong Kim

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(13), 7015; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22137015 - 29 Jun 2021

Viewed by 2622

Abstract

Adult human cardiomyocytes have an extremely limited proliferative capacity, which poses a great barrier to regenerative medicine and research. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have been proposed as an alternative source to generate large numbers of clinical grade cardiomyocytes (CMs) that can have potential therapeutic applications to treat cardiac diseases. Previous studies have shown that bioactive lipids are involved in diverse cellular responses including cardiogenesis. In this study, we explored the novel function of the chemically synthesized bioactive lipid O-cyclic phytosphingosine-1-phosphate (cP1P) as an inducer of cardiac differentiation. Here, we identified cP1P as a novel factor that significantly enhances the differentiation potential of hESCs into cardiomyocytes. Treatment with cP1P augments the beating colony number and contracting area of CMs. Furthermore, we elucidated the molecular mechanism of cP1P regulating SMAD1/5/8 signaling via the ALK3/BMP receptor cascade during cardiac differentiation. Our result provides a new insight for cP1P usage to improve the quality of CM differentiation for regenerative therapies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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11 pages, 3352 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Superior Alignment of Human iPSC-Osteoblasts Associated with Focal Adhesion Formation Stimulated by Oriented Collagen Scaffold

by Ryosuke Ozasa, Aira Matsugaki, Tadaaki Matsuzaka, Takuya Ishimoto, Hui-Suk Yun and Takayoshi Nakano

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(12), 6232; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22126232 - 09 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2658

Abstract

Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can be applied in patient-specific cell therapy to regenerate lost tissue or organ function. Anisotropic control of the structural organization in the newly generated bone matrix is pivotal for functional reconstruction during bone tissue regeneration. Recently, we revealed that hiPSC-derived osteoblasts (hiPSC-Obs) exhibit preferential alignment and organize in highly ordered bone matrices along a bone-mimetic collagen scaffold, indicating their critical role in regulating the unidirectional cellular arrangement, as well as the structural organization of regenerated bone tissue. However, it remains unclear how hiPSCs exhibit the cell properties required for oriented tissue construction. The present study aimed to characterize the properties of hiPSCs-Obs and those of their focal adhesions (FAs), which mediate the structural relationship between cells and the matrix. Our in vitro anisotropic cell culture system revealed the superior adhesion behavior of hiPSC-Obs, which exhibited accelerated cell proliferation and better cell alignment along the collagen axis compared to normal human osteoblasts. Notably, the oriented collagen scaffold stimulated FA formation along the scaffold collagen orientation. This is the first report of the superior cell adhesion behavior of hiPSC-Obs associated with the promotion of FA assembly along an anisotropic scaffold. These findings suggest a promising role for hiPSCs in enabling anisotropic bone microstructural regeneration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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14 pages, 7283 KiB

Open AccessArticle

DJ-1 Can Replace FGF-2 for Long-Term Culture of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in Defined Media and Feeder-Free Condition

by Julee Kim, Sangki Baek, Yean Ju Hong, Michelle Novais de Paula, Musharrat Jahan Prima, Yeon-Mok Oh, Sun-Shin Cha, Jeong Tae Do, Yeon Jin Jang and Han Choe

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(11), 5954; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22115954 - 31 May 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2781

Abstract

Conventional human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) cultures require high concentrations of expensive human fibroblast growth factor 2 (hFGF-2) for hPSC self-renewal and pluripotency in defined media for long-term culture. The thermal instability of the hFGF-2 mandates media change every day, which makes hPSC culture costly and cumbersome. Human DJ-1 (hDJ-1) can bind to and stimulate FGF receptor-1. In this study, for the first time, we have replaced hFGF-2 with hDJ-1 in the essential eight media and maintained the human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), H9, in the defined media at feeder-free condition. After more than ten passages, H9 in both groups still successfully maintained the typical hESC morphology and high protein levels of pluripotency markers, SSEA4, Tra1-60, Oct4, Nanog, and ALP. DNA microarray revealed that more than 97% of the 21,448 tested genes, including the pluripotency markers, Sox2, Nanog, Klf4, Lin28A, Lin28B, and Myc, have similar mRNA levels between the two groups. Karyotyping revealed no chromosome abnormalities in both groups. They also differentiated sufficiently into three germ layers by forming in vitro EBs and in vivo teratomas. There were some variations in the RT-qPCR assay of several pluripotency markers. The proliferation rates and the mitochondria of both groups were also different. Taken together, we conclude that hDJ-1 can replace hFGF-2 in maintaining the self-renewal and the pluripotency of hESCs in feeder-free conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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16 pages, 5543 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Conditioned Medium Promotes Endogenous Leukemia Inhibitory Factor to Attenuate Endotoxin-Induced Acute Lung Injury

by Vincent Yi-Fong Su, Shih-Hwa Chiou, Wei-Chih Chen, Wen-Kuang Yu, Huai-Hsuan Wu, Hao Chen and Kuang-Yao Yang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(11), 5554; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22115554 - 24 May 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2681

Abstract

The conditioned medium of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-CM) can attenuate neutrophil recruitment and endothelial leakage of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI). Therefore, we investigated the mechanisms by which iPSC-CM regulate the interaction between neutrophils and the endothelium in ALI. Murine iPSCs (miPSCs) were delivered intravenously to male C57BL/6 mice (8–12 weeks old) 4 h after intratracheal LPS injection. A miPSC-derived conditioned medium (miPSC-CM) was delivered intravenously to mice after intratracheal LPS injection. DMSO-induced HL-60 cells (D-HL-60, neutrophil-like cells) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used as in vitro models to assess the interaction of neutrophils and endothelial cells. miPSC-CM diminished the histopathological changes in the lungs and the neutrophil count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of ALI mice. miPSC-CM attenuated the expression of adhesion molecules in the lungs of ALI mice. Human iPSC conditioned medium (hiPSC-CM) reduced the expression of adhesion molecules in a HUVEC and D-HL-60 co-culture after LPS stimulation, which decreased the transendothelial migration (TEM) of D-HL-60. A human angiogenesis factors protein array revealed that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) was not detected in the absence of D-HL-60 and hiPSC-CM groups. hiPSC-CM significantly promoted the production of endogenous LIF in in vitro models. Administration of an anti-LIF antibody not only reversed the effect of iPSC-CM in ALI mice, but also blocked the effect of iPSC-CM on neutrophils TEM in in vitro models. However, a controlled IgG had no such effect. Our study demonstrated that iPSC-CM promoted endogenous LIF to inhibit neutrophils TEM and attenuate the severity of sepsis-induced ALI. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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19 pages, 4818 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Therapeutic Effects of hiPSC-Derived Glial and Neuronal Progenitor Cells-Conditioned Medium in Experimental Ischemic Stroke in Rats

by Diana Salikhova, Tatiana Bukharova, Elvira Cherkashova, Daria Namestnikova, Georgy Leonov, Maria Nikitina, Ilya Gubskiy, Gevorg Akopyan, Andrey Elchaninov, Konstantin Midiber, Natalia Bulatenco, Victoria Mokrousova, Andrey Makarov, Konstantin Yarygin, Vladimir Chekhonin, Liudmila Mikhaleva, Timur Fatkhudinov and Dmitry Goldshtein

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(9), 4694; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22094694 - 29 Apr 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2983

Abstract

Transplantation of various types of stem cells as a possible therapy for stroke has been tested for years, and the results are promising. Recent investigations have shown that the administration of the conditioned media obtained after stem cell cultivation can also be effective in the therapy of the central nervous system pathology (hypothesis of their paracrine action). The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of the conditioned medium of hiPSC-derived glial and neuronal progenitor cells in the rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model of the ischemic stroke. Secretory activity of the cultured neuronal and glial progenitor cells was evaluated by proteomic and immunosorbent-based approaches. Therapeutic effects were assessed by overall survival, neurologic deficit and infarct volume dynamics, as well as by the end-point values of the apoptosis- and inflammation-related gene expression levels, the extent of microglia/macrophage infiltration and the numbers of formed blood vessels in the affected area of the brain. As a result, 31% of the protein species discovered in glial progenitor cells-conditioned medium and 45% in neuronal progenitor cells-conditioned medium were cell type specific. The glial progenitor cell-conditioned media showed a higher content of neurotrophins (BDNF, GDNF, CNTF and NGF). We showed that intra-arterial administration of glial progenitor cells-conditioned medium promoted a faster decrease in neurological deficit compared to the control group, reduced microglia/macrophage infiltration, reduced expression of pro-apoptotic gene Bax and pro-inflammatory cytokine gene Tnf, increased expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine genes (Il4, Il10, Il13) and promoted the formation of blood vessels within the damaged area. None of these effects were exerted by the neuronal progenitor cell-conditioned media. The results indicate pronounced cytoprotective, anti-inflammatory and angiogenic properties of soluble factors secreted by glial progenitor cells. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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19 pages, 3603 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Disease Modeling and Disease Gene Discovery in Cardiomyopathies: A Molecular Study of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Generated Cardiomyocytes

by Satish Kumar, Joanne E. Curran, Kashish Kumar, Erica DeLeon, Ana C. Leandro, Juan Peralta, Sarah Williams-Blangero and John Blangero

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(7), 3311; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22073311 - 24 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3264

Abstract

The in vitro modeling of cardiac development and cardiomyopathies in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) provides opportunities to aid the discovery of genetic, molecular, and developmental changes that are causal to, or influence, cardiomyopathies and related diseases. To better understand the functional and disease modeling potential of iPSC-differentiated CMs and to provide a proof of principle for large, epidemiological-scale disease gene discovery approaches into cardiomyopathies, well-characterized CMs, generated from validated iPSCs of 12 individuals who belong to four sibships, and one of whom reported a major adverse cardiac event (MACE), were analyzed by genome-wide mRNA sequencing. The generated CMs expressed CM-specific genes and were highly concordant in their total expressed transcriptome across the 12 samples (correlation coefficient at 95% CI =0.92 ± 0.02). The functional annotation and enrichment analysis of the 2116 genes that were significantly upregulated in CMs suggest that generated CMs have a transcriptomic and functional profile of immature atrial-like CMs; however, the CMs-upregulated transcriptome also showed high overlap and significant enrichment in primary cardiomyocyte (p-value = 4.36 × 10⁻⁹), primary heart tissue (p-value = 1.37 × 10⁻⁴¹) and cardiomyopathy (p-value = 1.13 × 10⁻²¹) associated gene sets. Modeling the effect of MACE in the generated CMs-upregulated transcriptome identified gene expression phenotypes consistent with the predisposition of the MACE-affected sibship to arrhythmia, prothrombotic, and atherosclerosis risk. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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Review

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14 pages, 724 KiB

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Modeling PCDH19-CE: From 2D Stem Cell Model to 3D Brain Organoids

by Rossella Borghi, Valentina Magliocca, Marina Trivisano, Nicola Specchio, Marco Tartaglia, Enrico Bertini and Claudia Compagnucci

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(7), 3506; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms23073506 - 23 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3184

Abstract

PCDH19 clustering epilepsy (PCDH19-CE) is a genetic disease characterized by a heterogeneous phenotypic spectrum ranging from focal epilepsy with rare seizures and normal cognitive development to severe drug-resistant epilepsy associated with intellectual disability and autism. Unfortunately, little is known about the pathogenic mechanism underlying this disease and an effective treatment is lacking. Studies with zebrafish and murine models have provided insights on the function of PCDH19 during brain development and how its altered function causes the disease, but these models fail to reproduce the human phenotype. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology has provided a complementary experimental approach for investigating the pathogenic mechanisms implicated in PCDH19-CE during neurogenesis and studying the pathology in a more physiological three-dimensional (3D) environment through the development of brain organoids. We report on recent progress in the development of human brain organoids with a particular focus on how this 3D model may shed light on the pathomechanisms implicated in PCDH19-CE. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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15 pages, 14153 KiB

Open AccessReview

Chronic Cardiotoxicity Assays Using Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs)

by Akshay Narkar, James M. Willard and Ksenia Blinova

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(6), 3199; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms23063199 - 16 Mar 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4177

Abstract

Cardiomyocytes (CMs) differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are increasingly used in cardiac safety assessment, disease modeling and regenerative medicine. A vast majority of cardiotoxicity studies in the past have tested acute effects of compounds and drugs; however, these studies lack information on the morphological or physiological responses that may occur after prolonged exposure to a cardiotoxic compound. In this review, we focus on recent advances in chronic cardiotoxicity assays using hiPSC-CMs. We summarize recently published literature on hiPSC-CMs assays applied to chronic cardiotoxicity induced by anticancer agents, as well as non-cancer classes of drugs, including antibiotics, anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) and antidiabetic drugs. We then review publications on the implementation of hiPSC-CMs-based assays to investigate the effects of non-pharmaceutical cardiotoxicants, such as environmental chemicals or chronic alcohol consumption. We also highlight studies demonstrating the chronic effects of smoking and implementation of hiPSC-CMs to perform genomic screens and metabolomics-based biomarker assay development. The acceptance and wide implementation of hiPSC-CMs-based assays for chronic cardiotoxicity assessment will require multi-site standardization of assay protocols, chronic cardiac maturity marker reproducibility, time points optimization, minimal cellular variation (commercial vs. lab reprogrammed), stringent and matched controls and close clinical setting resemblance. A comprehensive investigation of long-term repeated exposure-induced effects on both the structure and function of cardiomyocytes can provide mechanistic insights and recapitulate drug and environmental cardiotoxicity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pluripotent Stem Cells 2021)

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