Direct Reprogramming of Human Fibroblasts into Myoblasts to Investigate Therapies for Neuromuscular Disorders

Summary

This protocol describes the conversion of skin fibroblasts into myoblasts and their differentiation into myotubes. The cell lines are derived from patients with neuromuscular disorders and can be used to investigate pathological mechanisms and to test therapeutic strategies.

Abstract

Investigations into both the pathophysiology and therapeutic targets in muscular dystrophies have been hampered by the limited proliferative capacity of human myoblasts. Several mouse models have been created but they either do not truly represent the human physiopathology of the disease or are not representative of the broad spectrum of mutations found in humans. The immortalization of human primary myoblasts is an alternative to this limitation; however, it is still dependent on muscle biopsies, which are invasive and not easily available. In contrast, skin biopsies are easier to obtain and less invasive to patients. Fibroblasts derived from skin biopsies can be immortalized and transdifferentiated into myoblasts, providing a source of cells with excellent myogenic potential. Here, we describe a fast and direct reprogramming method of fibroblast into a myogenic lineage. Fibroblasts are transduced with two lentiviruses: hTERT to immortalize the primary culture and a tet-inducible MYOD, which upon the addition of doxycycline, induces the conversion of fibroblasts into myoblasts and then mature myotubes, which express late differentiation markers. This quick transdifferentiation protocol represents a powerful tool to investigate pathological mechanisms and to investigate innovative gene-based or pharmacological biotherapies for neuromuscular disorders.

Introduction

Cellular models obtained directly from human tissues are useful to model many human genetic disorders, with the advantage of having the original genomic context and, in many cases, reproducing the same molecular and cellular hallmarks observed in the patients. In the field of neuromuscular disorders, muscle biopsies have been a great source of human myoblasts and have helped in the elucidation of pathological mechanisms. Additionally, they are an important tool for in vivo testing of drugs and gene therapies. On one hand, the derivation of myoblasts from muscle fragments is relatively easy. On the other hand, the culture and maintenance of primary myoblasts a....

Protocol

All experiments and biopsies were carried out following the ethical rules of the institutions involved under the approval of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Institutional Review Board.

1. Initiation of dermal fibroblasts culture

1. Establishment of fibroblasts culture
   1. Aliquot 10 mL of fibroblast medium (Table 1) in 15 mL conical tubes. The skin biopsy should be placed and transported in this medium. The biopsy can be stored at 4 °C until it is .......

Discussion

To obtain FM cell lines with good quality, some steps are critical. The sooner the skin biopsy is processed, the greater the chances are to obtain healthy fibroblasts. The passage number of fibroblasts cultures is also important. Primary cells have limited proliferative capacity and after many passages, they enter in replicative senescence. Thus, it is better to have a stock of fibroblasts at a low passage number and transform cells at the earliest passage as possible.

Another important step .......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
100 mm dish	Corning	430167
0.25% Trypsin-EDTA, phenol red	Thermo Fisher	2500056
10X Phosphate buffered saline (PBS)	Fisher Scientific	BP3994
12-well plate	Corning	3513
20X Transfer buffer	Thermo Fisher	NP00061
20X Tris-acetate SDS running buffer	Thermo Fisher	LA0041
3-8% Tris-Acetate gel	Thermo Fisher	EA0378BOX
75 cm2 flask	Corning	430641U
Antibiotic-Antimicotic 100X	Thermo Fisher	15240062
Anti-myosin heavy chain, sarcomere antibody	Developmental Studies Hybridome Bank	MF20 supernatant	Dilution 1:50
Antioxidant	Thermo Fisher	NP0005
BCA Protein Assay	Thermo Fisher	23227
Chloroform	Sigma-Aldrich	C2432
DAPI	Thermo Fisher	D3571	Dilution 1:1000
Digitonin	Millipore Sigma	300410250MG
Dimethyl sulfoxide	Sigma-Aldrich	D2438
DMEM, High glucose, GlutaMAX supplement, Pyruvate	Thermo Fisher	10569044
DNAse I set (250U)	Zymo Research Corporation	E1010
Doxycycline Hydrochloride	Fisher Scientific	BP2653-5
Dup2 human primers	Fw_5' GCTGCTGAAGTTTGTTGG TTTCTC 3'	Rv_5' CTTTTGGCAGTTTTTGCC CTGT 3'
Dystrophin antibody	Abcam	ab15277	Dilution 1:200
Fetal bovine serum	Thermo Fisher	16000
Glycine	Sigma-Aldrich	G8898
Goat anti-mouse, Alexa Fluor 488	Thermo Fisher	A11001	Dilution 1:1000
Halt Protease inhibitor cocktail 100X	Thermo Fisher	78430
Hemocytometer	Hausser Scientific	3100
Hygromycin B	Thermo Fisher	10687010
IRDye 680RD goat anti-Rabbit IgG (H+L)	Li-Cor	926-68071	Dilution 1:5000
Lab-Tek II CC2 chamber slide system	Thermo Fisher	15852
Laemmli	Bioworld	105700201
Lipofectamine 3000 Transfection Reagent	Thermo Fisher	L3000008
Matrigel GFR membrane matrix	Corning	354230
Methanol	Fisher Scientific	A412P-4
Mr. Frosty Freezing Container	Thermo Fisher	51000001
Nitrocellulose membrane 0.45 µm	GE Healthcare Life Sciences	10600002
Normal Goat serum control	Thermo Fisher	10000C
Odyssey Blocking Buffer (PBS)	Li-Cor	927-40003	Blocking buffer for Western blot
Opti-MEM I Reduced Serum Medium	Thermo Fisher	11058021
Paraformaldehyde	Sigma-Aldrich	158127
PCR master mix	Thermo Fisher	K0172
Phosphatase inhibitor	Thermo Fisher	A32957
Precision Plus Protein Dual Color Standards	Bio Rad	1610374
Puromycin	Thermo Fisher	A1113803
Revert 700 Total Protein Stain for Western Blot Normalization	Li-Cor	926-11021
RevertAid kit	Thermo Fisher	K1691
RNA Clean & Concentrator-25	Zymo Research Corporation	R1018
Scalpels	Aspen Surgical	372611
Skeletal Muscle Cell Differentiation medium	Promocell	C23061
Skeletal Muscle Cell Growth medium	Promocell	C23060
Triton X-100	Acros Organics	215682500
TRIzol reagent	Thermo Fisher	15596026
Tween 20	Fisher Scientific	BP337500
Ultra low temperature freezer	Thermo Scientific	7402
UltraPure 0.5M EDTA, pH 8.0	Thermo Fisher	15575020
Vectashield antifade mounting medium	Vector Labs	H1000