Name: efficient and scalable directed differentiation of clinically compatible corneal limbal epithelial stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells
Uploaded: 2018-10-24T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Efficient and Scalable Directed Differentiation of Clinically Compatible Corneal Limbal Epithelial Stem Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells at JoVE.com

The study was supported by the Academy of Finland (grant number 297886), the Human spare parts program of Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, the Finnish Eye and Tissue Bank Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The authors thank the biomedical laboratory technicians Outi Melin, Hanna Pekkanen, Emma Vikstedt, and Outi Heikkil&#228; for excellent technical assistance and contribution to cell culture. Professor Katriina Aalto-Set&#228;l&#228; is acknowledged for providing the hiPSC line used and BioMediTech Imaging Core facility for providing equipment for fluorescence imaging.

University of Tampere has the approval of the National Authority for Medicolegal affairs Finland (Dnro 1426/32/300/05) to conduct research on human embryos. The institute also has supportive statements of the Ethical Committee of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District to derive, culture, and differentiate hESC lines (Skottman/R05116) and to use hiPSC lines in ophthalmic research (Skottman/R14023). No new cell lines were derived for this study.
NOTE: The protocol described is based on specific, commer...

<ol>
	<li>Dua, H. S., Shanmuganathan, V. A., Powell-Richards, A. O., Tighe, P. J., Joseph, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Limbal+epithelial+crypts:+a+novel+anatomical+structure+and+a+putative+limbal+stem+cell+niche.">Limbal epithelial crypts: a novel anatomical structure and a putative limbal stem cell niche.</a> The British Journal of Ophthalmology. 89 (5), 529-532 (2005).</li><li>Yazdanpanah, G., Jabbehdari, S., Djalilian, A. 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The expected result of this protocol is the successful and robust generation of LESCs from a single cell suspension of FF hPSC within approximately 3.5 weeks. As corneal epithelium develops from surface ectoderm29, the first step of the protocol aims at steering hPSCs towards this lineage. A short 24 h induction with transforming growth factor beta (TGF-&#946;) antagonist SB-505124, and bFGF are used to induce ectodermal differentiation, followed by 48 h mesodermal BMP-4 cue to push the cells towa...

The transparent cornea at the ocular surface allows light to enter the retina and provides the majority of the eye&#39;s refractive power. The outermost layer, the stratified corneal epithelium, is continuously regenerated by limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs). The LESCs reside in the basal layer of the limbal niches at the corneoscleral junction1,2. LESCs lack specific and unique markers, so their identification requires a more extensive analysis of a set of putative markers. Epithelial transcription factor p63, and especially N-terminally truncated transcript of the alpha isoform of p63 (&#916;Np63&#945;), has been proposed as a relevant positive LESC marker3,4. Asymmetric division of LESCs allows them to self-renew, but also produce progeny that migrate centripetally and anteriorly. As the cells progress toward the corneal surface they gradually lose their stemness and finally terminally differentiate to superficial squamous cells that are continuously lost from the corneal surface.
Damage to any of the corneal layers can lead to severe visual impairment, and corneal defects are thus one of the leading causes of vision loss worldwide. In limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), the limbus is destroyed by disease or trauma which leads to conjunctivalization and opacification of the corneal surface and subsequent loss of vision5,6. Cell replacement therapy using autologous or allogeneic limbal grafts offers a treatment strategy for patients with LSCD4,7,8,9. However, harvesting autologous grafts bears a risk of complications to the healthy eye, and donor tissue is in short supply. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), specifically human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), can serve as an unlimited source of clinically relevant cell types, including corneal epithelial cells. Therefore, hPSC-derived LESCs (hPSC-LESCs) represent an attractive new cell source for ocular cell replacement therapy.
Traditionally, both the undifferentiated hPSC culture methods and their differentiation protocols to LESCs have relied on the use of undefined feeder cells, animal sera, conditioned media, or amniotic membranes10,11,12,13,14,15. Recently, efforts toward safer cell therapy products have prompted the search for more standardized and xeno-free culture and differentiation protocols. As a result, several defined and xeno-free methods for long-term culture of undifferentiated hPSCs are now commercially available16,17,18. As a continuum, directed differentiation protocols relying on molecular cues to guide hPSCs to corneal epithelial fate have been recently introduced19,20,21,22,23. Yet many of these protocols used either undefined, feeder based hPSCs as starting material, or complex, xenogeneic growth factor cocktails for differentiation.
The purpose of this protocol is to provide a robust, optimized, xeno-and feeder-free hPSC culture method and subsequent differentiation to corneal LESCs. Monolayer culture of pluripotent hPSCs on laminin-521 (LN-521) matrix in defined, albumin-free hPSC medium (specifically Essential 8 Flex) allows rapid production of homogeneous starting material for differentiations. Thereafter a simple, two-step differentiation strategy guides hPSCs toward surface ectodermal fate in suspension, followed by adherent differentiation to LESCs. A cell population where &#62; 65% express &#916;Np63&#945; is obtained within 24 days. The xeno- and feeder-free protocol has been tested with several hPSC lines (both hESCs and hiPSCs), without any requirement for cell line specific optimization. The protocols for weekend-free maintenance, passaging, cryostoring and hPSC-LESC phenotyping described here enable production of large batches of high-quality LESCs for clinical or research purposes.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Material/Reagent</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>1x DPBS containing Ca2+ and Mg2+</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#14040-091</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>1x DPBS without Ca2+ and Mg2+</td>
			<td>Lonza</td>
			<td>#17-512F/12</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>100 mm cell culture dish</td>
			<td>Corning CellBIND</td>
			<td>#3296</td>
			<td>Culture vessel format for adherent hPSC-LESC differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>12-well plate</td>
			<td>Corning CellBIND</td>
			<td>#3336</td>
			<td>Culture vessel format for IF samples</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>24-well plate</td>
			<td>Corning CellBIND</td>
			<td>#3337</td>
			<td>Culture vessel format for IF samples</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>2-mercaptoethanol</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#31350-010</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>6-well plate, Ultra-Low attachment</td>
			<td>Corning Costar</td>
			<td>#3471</td>
			<td>Culture vessel format for induction in suspension culture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Alexa Fluor 488 anti-mouse Ig</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#A-21202</td>
			<td>Secondary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Alexa Fluor 488 anti-rabbit Ig</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#A-21206</td>
			<td>Secondary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Alexa Fluor 568 anti-goat Ig</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#A-11057</td>
			<td>Secondary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Alexa Fluor 568 anti-mouse Ig</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#A-10037</td>
			<td>Secondary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, human)</td>
			<td>PeproTech Inc.</td>
			<td>#AF-100-18B</td>
			<td>Animal-Free Recombinant Human FGF-basic (154 a.a.)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BD Cytofix/Cytoperm Fixation/Permeabilization Solution</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td>#554722</td>
			<td>Fixation and permeabilization solution for flow cytometry</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BD Perm/Wash Buffer</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td>#554723</td>
			<td>Washing buffer for flow cytometry</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Blebbistatin</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#B0560</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP-4)</td>
			<td>PeproTech Inc.</td>
			<td>#120-05A</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bovine serum albumin (BSA)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#A8022-100G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cytokeratin 12 antibody</td>
			<td>Santa Cruz Biotechnology</td>
			<td>#SC-17099</td>
			<td>Primary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cytokeratin 14 antibody</td>
			<td>R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td>#MAB3164</td>
			<td>Primary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cytokeratin 15 antibody</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#MS-1068-P</td>
			<td>Primary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CnT-30</td>
			<td>CELLnTEC Advanced Cell Systems AG</td>
			<td>#Cnt-30</td>
			<td>Culture medium for adherent hPSC-LESC differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Collagen type IV (human)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#C5533</td>
			<td>Human placental collagen type IV</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CoolCell LX Freezing Container</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#BCS-405</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CryoPure tubes</td>
			<td>Sarsted</td>
			<td>#72.380</td>
			<td>1.6 ml cryotube for hPSC-LESC cryopreservation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Defined Trypsin Inhibitor</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#R-007-100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Essential 8 Flex Medium Kit</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#A2858501</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GlutaMAX</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#35050061</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Laminin 521</td>
			<td>Biolamina</td>
			<td>#Ln521</td>
			<td>Human recombinant laminin 521</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>&#916;Np63&#945; antibody</td>
			<td>BioCare Medical</td>
			<td>#4892</td>
			<td>Primary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>OCT3/4 antibody</td>
			<td>R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td>#AF1759</td>
			<td>Primary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>p63&#945; antibody</td>
			<td>Cell Signaling Technology</td>
			<td>#ACI3066A</td>
			<td>Primary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>p63-&#945; (D2K8X) XP Rabbit mAb (PE Conjugate)</td>
			<td>Cell Signaling Technology</td>
			<td>#56687</td>
			<td>p63-&#945; PE-conjugated antibody for flow cytometry</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PAX6 antibody</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#HPA030775</td>
			<td>Primary antibody for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Penicillin/Streptomycin</td>
			<td>Lonza</td>
			<td>#17-602E</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Paraformaldehyde (PFA)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#158127</td>
			<td>Cell fixative for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>ProLong Gold Antifade Mountant with DAPI</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#P36931</td>
			<td>DAPI mountant for hard mounting for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PSC Cryopreservation Kit</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#A2644601</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>TrypLE Select Enzyme</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#12563-011</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KnockOut Dulbecco&#8217;s modified Eagle&#8217;s medium</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#10829018</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KnockOut SR XenoFree CTS</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#10828028</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MEM non-essential amino acids</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>#11140050</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SB-505124</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#S4696</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triton X-100</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#T8787</td>
			<td>Permeabilization agent for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>VectaShield</td>
			<td>Vector Laboratories</td>
			<td>#H-1200</td>
			<td>DAPI mountant for liquid mounting for IF</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Name</td>
			<td>Company</td>
			<td>Catalog Number</td>
			<td>Comments</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Equipment</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cytocentrifuge, e.g. CellSpin II</td>
			<td>Tharmac</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Flow cytometer, e.g. BD Accuri C6</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fluorescence microscope, e.g.Olympus IX 51</td>
			<td>Olympus</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

efficient and scalable directed differentiation of clinically compatible corneal limbal epithelial stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells

Corneal limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs) are responsible for continuously renewing the corneal epithelium, and thus maintaining corneal homeostasis and visual clarity. Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived LESCs provide a promising cell source for corneal cell replacement therapy. Undefined, xenogeneic culture and differentiation conditions cause variation in research results and impede the clinical translation of hPSC-derived therapeutics. This protocol provides a reproducible and efficient method for hPSC-LESC differentiation under xeno- and feeder cell-free conditions. Firstly, monolayer culture of undifferentiated hPSC on recombinant laminin-521 (LN-521) and defined hPSC medium serves as a foundation for robust production of high-quality starting material for differentiations. Secondly, a rapid and simple hPSC-LESC differentiation method yields LESC populations in only 24 days. This method includes a four-day surface ectodermal induction in suspension with small molecules, followed by adherent culture phase on LN-521/collagen IV combination matrix in defined corneal epithelial differentiation medium. Cryostoring and extended differentiation further purifies the cell population and enables banking of the cells in large quantities for cell therapy products. The resulting high-quality hPSC-LESCs provide a potential novel treatment strategy for corneal surface reconstruction to treat limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD).

From hPSCs to hPSC-LESCs
The entire process from inducing differentiation of FF hPSCs to cryostoring hPSC-LESCs takes around 3.5 weeks. Schematic overview of the differentiation method highlighting its key steps is presented in Figure 1A. Figure 1B shows typical morphologies of cell populations in different phases of the protocol. The data presented are obtained with Regea...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Efficient and Scalable Directed Differentiation of Clinically Compatible Corneal Limbal Epithelial Stem Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells at JoVE.com

Efficient and Scalable Directed Differentiation of Clinically Compatible Corneal Limbal Epithelial Stem Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

This protocol introduces a simple two-step method for differentiating corneal limbal epithelial stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells under xeno- and feeder cell-free culture conditions. The cell culture methods presented here enable cost-efficient, large-scale production of clinical quality cells applicable to corneal cell therapy use.

Corneal limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs) are responsible for continuously renewing the corneal epithelium, and thus maintaining corneal homeostasis ...

This protocol introduced a defined feeder cell free method for differentiating corneal limbal epithelial stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells. Limbal epithelial stem cells are responsible for renewing the corneal epithelial in the healthy eye. Damage to these cells leads to a condition known as limbal stem cell deficiency, and to the loss of corneal clarity.The cell culture methods shown here enable efficient production of limbal epithelial stem cells for future corneal cell replacement therapies. To begin, passage and maintain the feeder free human pluripotent stem cell culture as outlined in the text protocol. Make sure to use only high quality human pluripotent stem cells as starting material for differentiations.When ready to induce embryoid body formation, warm all of the needed materials and reagents to room temperature in a laminar flow hood. Detach the feeder free human pluripotent stem cells to the suspension by adding 500 microliters of xeno free trypsin EDTA to each well. An incubating at 37 degrees Celsius, with 5%CO2.After three minutes, remove the cells from the incubator and check the cell morphology to determine the optimal phase for trypsin removal. Carefully observe the cells to determine the optimal time to remove the xeno free tryspin EDTA, when the cells have rounded up, but have not detached completely. At the optimal time, remove the xeno free trypsin EDTA from the cells.Add defined trypsin inhibitor and gently pipette to detach the cells. Collect the single cell suspension in a 50 milliliter centrifuge tube. Centrifuge at 300g for five minutes.Then, remove the supernatant, and resuspend the cells in one milliliter of culture medium. After counting the cells, distribute two to three million cells in three milliliters of basal induction medium supplemented with five micromolar blebbistatin to each well of a low attachment six well plate. Incubate overnight at 37 degrees Celsius with 5%CO2.The next day, check the quality of the embryoid bodies under a microscope. Remove the medium, and replace it with three milliliters of basal induction medium supplemented with 10 micromolar SB-505124 and 50 nanograms per milliliter of human basic fiberglass growth factor. Continue incubating at 37 degrees Celsius with 5%CO2.The following two days, remove the medium, and replace it with three milliliters of basal induction medium, supplemented with 25 nanograms per milliliter of bone morphogenetic protein four. Then, continue incubation using the previous conditions. On day four, prepare a mixture of 0.5 micrograms per square centimeter of Laminin-521, and five micrograms per square centimeter of human placental collagen type four, diluted in DPBS containing calcium two and magnesium two ions.Using this mixture, coat the 100 millimeter tissue culture dishes for adherent differentiation in total coating volume of five milliliters per dish. Seal the plates, and store them at four degrees Celsius overnight. On day five, warm all of the needed materials and reagents to room temperature in a laminar flow hood.After this, remove the coating solution and add 10 milliliters of pre-warmed differentiation medium to each dish. Using a pipette, transfer the embryoid bodies from a single plate well across two to three tissue culture dishes. Then, gently shake each culture dish to evenly distribute the embryoid bodies.Maintain the cells in adherent culture at 37 degrees Celsius with 5%CO2 for the next two and a half to three weeks, making sure to replace the medium with 10 milliliters of fresh differentiation medium three times per week. Use a phase contrast microscope to regularly check the cells for the emergence of correct epithelial morphology. To begin, pre-warm all of the needed materials and reagents to room temperature in a laminar flow hood, except for the cryopreservation medium, which should be pre-chilled.Next, detach the human pluripotent stem cell derived limbal epithelial stem cells to single cell suspension by adding xeno free trypsin EDTA and incubating at 37 degrees Celsius with 5%CO2. After five minutes, remove the cells from the incubator and check the cell morphology to determine the optimal phase for trypsin removal. Carefully observe the cells to determine the optimal time to remove the xeno free trypsin EDTA, when the cells have rounded up, but have not detached completely.At the optimal time, remove the xeno free trypsin EDTA from the cells, and detach the cells as described earlier. After counting the cells, centrifuge them at 300g for five minutes. Aspirate the medium, and resuspend the cells in pre-chilled xeno free cryopreservation medium.Using a pipette, transfer the single cell suspension into cryo-tubes so that each cryo-tube contains between 500, 000 to one million cells in one milliliter of cryopreservation medium. Place the tubes in a freezing container. Within five minutes, transfer them to a freezer at negative 80 degrees Celsius for overnight storage.The next day, transfer the tubes to liquid nitrogen for long term storage. Before thawing the cells, coat all needed dishes and plate wells with a mixture of five micrograms per square centimeter human placental collagen type four, and 0.5 micrograms per square centimeter of LM-521, and pre-warm all of the needed materials and reagents to room temperature in the laminar flow hood. Next, remove the coating solution from the dishes and plate wells and add the appropriate volume of pre-warmed differentiation medium.Add pre-warmed differentiation medium to a 15 milliliter conical tube. Thaw the cells quickly to room temperature. Once thawed, immediately transfer the cell suspension to the conical centrifuge tube.Centrifuge at 300g for five minutes. Aspirate the medium, and resuspend the cell pellet in differentiation medium to remove any cryopreservation medium. Plate the cells onto precoated dishes in differentiation medium at a density of 40, 000 to 50, 000 cells per square centimeter.Maintain the cells at 37 degrees Celsius at 5%CO2, replacing the differentiation medium three times a week. On Laminin-521, the undifferentiated high quality feeder free human pluripotent stem cells first form distinct colonies with sharp edges, which merge to homogenous monolayers upon confluence. Culturing in basal induction medium, supplemented with five micromolar blebbistatin for 24 hours typically produces a suspension of tight, regular embryoid bodies of various sizes, while the embryoid body morphology should not change dramatically during the surface ectodermal induction in suspension, colonial outgrowth is seen to appear soon after the embryoid bodies are plated onto the collagen type four and Laminin-521 combination matrix in differentiation medium.Within 21 to 25 days of differentiation, the cells form confluent homogenous layers, with polygonal morphology, that is typical to epithelial cells. The cells may be then cryo stored for later use, as viability and morphology are well preserved after thawing. At day 24 of differentiation, the vast majority of the cells expressed paired box protein, PAX6, the key regulator of eye development, as well as p63 alpha, the widely recognized LESC marker.Delta Np63 is coexpressed in most of the p63 alpha positive cells, confirming the most cornea specific delta Np63 alpha positive cell phenotype. Other markers are expressed in part, while others are undetectable at this point, indicating differentiation has progressed toward the unipotent limbal epithelial progenitors, but the terminal differentiation into mature corneal epithelial cells has not yet occurred. On average, each undifferentiated feeder free human pluripotent stem cell generates 0.7 cells by day 25.At least 65%delta Np63 alpha positive cell population can be expected by day 24. Cryopreservation further purifies the cell population. Overall, the methods presented here are relatively simple, but there are a few critical points to success.High quality of the starting material is essential, as well as gentle, fluent cell culture techniques in general. This protocol provides robust means to produce limbal epithelial stem cells for clinical applications, as well as for various research purposes. Moreover, the method can be easily modified for differentiation of retinal pigment epithelial cells.

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Research

JoVE Journal

Developmental Biology

Large-Scale Production of Cardiomyocytes from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Highly Reproducible Small Molecule-Based Differentiation Protocol

Maximizing the benefit of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for research, disease modeling, pharmaceutical and clinical applications requires robust methods for the large-scale production of functional cell types, including cardiomyocytes. Here we demonstrate that the temporal manipulation of WNT, TGF-&#946;, and SHH signaling pathways leads to highly efficient cardiomyocyte differentiation of single-cell passaged hPSC lines in both static suspension and stirred suspension bioreactor systems. Employing this strategy resulted in ~ 100% beating spheroids, consistently containing &#62; 80% cardiac troponin T-positive cells after 15 days of culture, validated in multiple hPSC lines. We also report on a variation of this protocol for use with cell lines not currently adapted to single-cell passaging, the success of which has been verified in 42 hPSC lines. Cardiomyocytes generated using these protocols express lineage-specific markers and show expected electrophysiological functionalities. Our protocol presents a simple, efficient and robust platform for the large-scale production of human cardiomyocytes.

Here, we present a robust, fast and scalable cardiomyocyte differentiation protocol for human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Cardiomyocytes derived using this large-scale method can provide sufficient cell numbers for their effective use in human cardiovascular disease modeling, high-throughput drug screening, and potentially clinical applications.

Maximizing the benefit of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for research, disease modeling, pharmaceutical and clinical applications requires robust ...

The Production of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Mouse Amniotic Fluid Cells Using a Transposon System

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are generated from mouse and human somatic cells by forced expression of defined transcription factors using different methods. Here, we produced iPS cells from mouse amniotic fluid cells, using a non-viral-based transposon system. All obtained iPS cell lines exhibited characteristics of pluripotent cells, including the ability to differentiate toward derivatives of all three germ layers in vitro and in vivo. This strategy opens up the possibility of using cells from diseased fetuses to develop new therapies for birth defects.

In this study, we generate induced pluripotent stem cells from mouse amniotic fluid cells, using a non-viral-based transposon system.

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are generated from mouse and human somatic cells by forced expression of defined transcription factors using ...

Directed Differentiation of Primitive and Definitive Hematopoietic Progenitors from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

One of the major goals for regenerative medicine is the generation and maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Until recently, efforts to differentiate hPSCs into HSCs have predominantly generated hematopoietic progenitors that lack HSC potential, and instead resemble yolk sac hematopoiesis.&#160;These resulting hematopoietic progenitors may have limited utility for in vitro disease modeling of various adult hematopoietic disorders, particularly those of the lymphoid lineages. However, we have recently described methods to generate erythro-myelo-lymphoid multilineage definitive hematopoietic progenitors from hPSCs using a stage-specific directed differentiation protocol, which we outline here. Through enzymatic dissociation of hPSCs on basement membrane matrix-coated plasticware, embryoid bodies (EBs) are formed. EBs are differentiated to mesoderm by recombinant BMP4, which is subsequently specified to the definitive hematopoietic program by the GSK3&#946; inhibitor, CHIR99021. Alternatively, primitive hematopoiesis is specified by the PORCN inhibitor, IWP2. Hematopoiesis is further driven through the addition of recombinant VEGF and supportive hematopoietic cytokines. The resulting hematopoietic progenitors generated using this method have the potential to be used for disease and developmental modeling, in vitro.

Here, we present human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) culture protocols, used to differentiate hPSCs into CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors. This method uses stage-specific manipulation of canonical WNT signaling to specify cells exclusively to either the definitive or primitive hematopoietic program.

One of the major goals for regenerative medicine is the generation and maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) derived from human pluripotent stem ...

Efficient Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells to NKX6-1+ Pancreatic Progenitors

Pluripotent stem cells have the ability to self renew and differentiate to multiple lineages, making them an attractive source for the generation of pancreatic progenitor cells that can be used for the study of and future treatment of diabetes. This article outlines a four-stage differentiation protocol designed to generate pancreatic progenitor cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). This protocol can be applied to a number of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) lines. The approach taken to generate pancreatic progenitor cells is to differentiate hESCs to accurately model key stages of pancreatic development. This begins with the induction of the definitive endoderm, which is achieved by culturing the cells in the presence of Activin A, basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF) and CHIR990210. Further differentiation and patterning with Fibroblast Growth Factor 10 (FGF10) and Dorsomorphin generates cells resembling the posterior foregut. The addition of Retinoic Acid, NOGGIN, SANT-1 and FGF10 differentiates posterior foregut cells into cells characteristic of pancreatic endoderm. Finally, the combination of Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), Nicotinamide and NOGGIN leads to the efficient generation of PDX1+/NKX6-1+ cells. Flow cytometry is performed to confirm the expression of specific markers at key stages of pancreatic development. The PDX1+/NKX6-1+ pancreatic progenitors at the end of stage 4 are capable of generating mature &#946; cells upon transplantation into immunodeficient mice and can be further differentiated to generate insulin-producing cells in vitro. Thus, the efficient generation of PDX1+/NKX6-1+ pancreatic progenitors, as demonstrated in this protocol, is of great importance as it provides a platform to study human pancreatic development in vitro and provides a source of cells with the potential of differentiating to &#946; cells that could eventually be used for the treatment of diabetes.

Efficient Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells to NKX6-1+ Pancreatic Progenitors

Here we describe a 4-stage protocol to differentiate human embryonic stem cells to NKX6-1+ pancreatic progenitors in vitro. This protocol can be applied to a variety of human pluripotent stem cell lines.

Pluripotent stem cells have the ability to self renew and differentiate to multiple lineages, making them an attractive source for the generation of ...

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Trophoblastic Cells

The placenta is the first organ to develop during embryogenesis and is required for the survival of the developing embryo. The placenta is comprised of various trophoblastic cells that differentiate from the extra-embryonic trophectoderm cells of the preimplantation blastocyst. As such, our understanding of the early differentiation events of the human placenta is limited because of ethical and legal restrictions on the isolation and manipulation of human embryogenesis. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are a robust model system for investigating human development and can also be differentiated in vitro into trophoblastic cells that express markers of the various trophoblast cell types. Here, we present a detailed protocol for differentiating hPSCs into trophoblastic cells using bone morphogenic protein 4 and inhibitors of the Activin/Nodal signaling pathways. This protocol generates various trophoblast cell types that can be transfected with siRNAs for investigating loss-of-function phenotypes or can be infected with pathogens. Additionally, hPSCs can be genetically modified and then differentiated into trophoblast progenitors for gain-of-function analyses. This in vitro differentiation method for generating human trophoblasts starting from hPSCs overcomes the ethical and legal restrictions of working with early human embryos, and this system can be used for a variety of applications, including drug discovery and stem cell research.

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Trophoblastic Cells

Here, we present a protocol to efficiently generate human trophoblastic cells from human pluripotent stem cells using bone morphogenic protein 4 and inhibitors of the Activin/Nodal pathways. This method is suitable for the efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells and can generate large quantities of cells for genetic manipulation.

The placenta is the first organ to develop during embryogenesis and is required for the survival of the developing embryo. The placenta is comprised of ...

Defined and Scalable Generation of Hepatocyte-like Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) possess great value for biomedical research. hPSCs can be scaled and differentiated to all cell types found in the human body. The differentiation of hPSCs to human hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) has been extensively studied, and efficient differentiation protocols have been established. The combination of extracellular matrix and biological stimuli, including growth factors, cytokines, and small molecules, have made it possible to generate HLCs that resemble primary human hepatocytes. However, the majority of procedures still employ undefined components, giving rise to batch-to-batch variation. This serves as a significant barrier to the application of the technology. To tackle this issue, we developed a defined system for hepatocyte differentiation using human recombinant laminins as extracellular matrices in combination with a serum-free differentiation process. Highly efficient hepatocyte specification was achieved, with demonstrated improvements in both HLC function and phenotype. Importantly, this system is easy to scale up using research and GMP-grade hPSC lines&#160;promising advances in cell-based modelling and therapies.

The method presented here describes a scalable and good manufacturing practice (GMP)-ready differentiation system to generate human hepatocyte-like cells from pluripotent stem cells. It serves as a cost-effective and standardized system to generate human hepatocyte-like cells for basic and applied human liver research.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) possess great value for biomedical research. hPSCs can be scaled and differentiated to all cell types found in the ...

Rapid, Directed Differentiation of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells from Human Embryonic or Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

We describe a robust method to direct the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). The purpose of providing a detailed and thorough protocol is to clearly demonstrate each step and to make this readily available to researchers in the field. This protocol results in a homogenous layer of RPE with minimal or no manual dissection needed. The method presented here has been shown to be effective for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and human embryonic stem cells. Additionally, we describe methods for cryopreservation of intermediate cell banks that allow long-term storage. RPE generated using this protocol might be useful for iPSC disease-in-a-dish modeling or clinical application.

This protocol describes how to produce retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) from pluripotent stem cells. The method uses a combination of growth factors and small molecules to direct the differentiation of stem cells into immature RPE in fourteen days and mature, functional RPE after three months.

We describe a robust method to direct the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). The purpose of providing ...

Efficient Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Liver Cells

The liver detoxifies harmful substances, secretes vital proteins, and executes key metabolic activities, thus sustaining life. Consequently, liver failure&#8212;which can be caused by chronic alcohol intake, hepatitis, acute poisoning, or other insults&#8212;is a severe condition that can culminate in bleeding, jaundice, coma, and eventually death. However, approaches to treat liver failure, as well as studies of liver function and disease, have been stymied in part by the lack of a plentiful supply of human liver cells. To this end, this protocol details the efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into hepatocyte-like cells, guided by a developmental roadmap that describes how liver fate is specified across six consecutive differentiation steps. By manipulating developmental signaling pathways to promote liver differentiation and to explicitly suppress the formation of unwanted cell fates, this method efficiently generates populations of human liver bud progenitors and hepatocyte-like cells by days 6 and 18 of PSC differentiation, respectively. This is achieved through the temporally-precise control of developmental signaling pathways, exerted by small molecules and growth factors in a serum-free culture medium. Differentiation in this system occurs in monolayers and yields hepatocyte-like cells that express characteristic hepatocyte enzymes and have the ability to engraft a mouse model of chronic liver failure. The ability to efficiently generate large numbers of human liver cells in vitro has ramifications for treatment of liver failure, for drug screening, and for mechanistic studies of liver disease.

This protocol details a monolayer, serum-free method to efficiently generate hepatocyte-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in 18 days. This entails six steps as hPSCs sequentially differentiate into intermediate cell-types such as the primitive streak, definitive endoderm, posterior foregut and liver bud progenitors before forming hepatocyte-like cells.

The liver detoxifies harmful substances, secretes vital proteins, and executes key metabolic activities, thus sustaining life. Consequently, liver ...

In Vitro Generation of Somite Derivatives from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

In response to signals such as WNTs, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), and sonic hedgehog (SHH) secreted from surrounding tissues, somites (SMs) give rise to multiple cell types, including the myotome (MYO), sclerotome (SCL), dermatome (D), and syndetome (SYN), which in turn develop into skeletal muscle, axial skeleton, dorsal dermis, and axial tendon/ligament, respectively. Therefore, the generation of SMs and their derivatives from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is critical to obtain pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) for application in regenerative medicine and for disease research in the field of orthopedic surgery. Although the induction protocols for MYO and SCL from PSCs have been previously reported by several researchers, no study has yet demonstrated the induction of SYN and D from iPSCs. Therefore, efficient induction of fully competent SMs remains a major challenge. Here, we recapitulate human SM patterning with human iPSCs in vitro by mimicking the signaling environment during chick/mouse SM development, and report on methods of systematic induction of SM derivatives (MYO, SCL, D, and SYN) from human iPSCs under chemically defined conditions through the presomitic mesoderm (PSM) and SM states. Knowledge regarding chick/mouse&#160;SM development was successfully applied to the induction of SMs with human iPSCs. This method could be a novel tool for studying human somitogenesis and patterning without the use of embryos and for cell-based therapy and disease modeling.

We present here a protocol for the differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells into each somite derivative (myotome, sclerotome, dermatome, and syndetome) in chemically defined conditions, which has applications in future disease modeling and cell-based therapies in orthopedic surgery.

In response to signals such as WNTs, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), and sonic hedgehog (SHH) secreted from surrounding tissues, somites (SMs) give ...

Transient Treatment of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells with DMSO to Promote Differentiation

Despite the growing use of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), challenges in efficiently differentiating embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs and iPSCs) across various lineages remain. Numerous differentiation protocols have been developed, yet variability across cell lines and low rates of differentiation impart challenges in successfully implementing these protocols. Described here is an easy and inexpensive means to enhance the differentiation capacity of PSCs. It has been previously shown that treatment of stem cells with a low concentration of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) significantly increases the propensity of a variety of PSCs to differentiate to different cell types following directed differentiation. This technique has now been shown to be effective across different species (e.g., mouse, primate, and human) into multiple lineages, ranging from neurons and cortical spheroids to smooth muscle cells and hepatocytes. The DMSO pretreatment improves PSC differentiation by regulating the cell cycle and priming stem cells to be more responsive to differentiation signals. Provided here is the detailed methodology for using this simple tool as a reproducible and widely applicable means to more efficiently differentiate PSCs to any lineage of choice.

Generating differentiated cell types from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) holds great therapeutic promise but remains challenging. PSCs often exhibit an inherent inability to differentiate even when stimulated with a proper set of signals. Described here is a simple tool to enhance multilineage differentiation across a variety of PSC lines.

Despite the growing use of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), challenges in efficiently differentiating embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs and ...