Pluripotent stem cells--model of embryonic development,tool for gene targeting,and basis of cell therapy

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent cell lines with the capacity of self-renewal and a broad differentiation plasticity. They are derived from pre-implantation embryos and can be propagated as a homogeneous, uncommitted cell population for an almost unlimited period of time without losing their pluripotency and their stable karyotype. Murine ES cells are able to reintegrate fully into embryogenesis when returned into an early embryo, even after extensive genetic manipulation. In the resulting chimeric offspring produced by blastocyst injection or morula aggregation, ES cell descendants are represented among all cell types, including functional gametes. Therefore, mouse ES cells represent an important tool for genetic engineering, in particular via homologous recombination, to introduce gene knock-outs and other precise genomic modifications into the mouse germ line. Because of these properties ES cell technology is of high interest for other model organisms and for livestock species like cattle and pigs. However, in spite of tremendous research activities, no proven ES cells colonizing the germ line have yet been established for vertebrate species other than the mouse (Evans and Kaufman, 1981; Martin, 1981) and chicken (Pain et al., 1996). The in vitro differentiation capacity of ES cells provides unique opportunities for experimental analysis of gene regulation and function during cell commitment and differentiation in early embryogenesis. Recently, pluripotent stem cells were established from human embryos (Thomson et al., 1998) and early fetuses (Shamblott et al., 1998), opening new scenarios both for research in human developmental biology and for medical applications, i.e. cell replacement strategies. At about the same time, research activities focused on characteristics and differentiation potential of somatic stem cells, unravelling an unexpected plasticity of these cell types. Somatic stem cells are found in differentiated tissues and can renew themselves in addition to generating the specialized cell types of the tissue from which they originate. Additional to discoveries of somatic stem cells in tissues that were previously not thought to contain these kinds of cells, they also appear to be capable of developing into cell types of other tissues, but have a reduced differentiation potential as compared to embryo-derived stem cells. Therefore, somatic stem cells are referred to as multipotent rather than pluripotent. This review summarizes characteristics of pluripotent stem cells in the mouse and in selected livestock species, explains their use for genetic engineering and basic research on embryonic development, and evaluates their potential for cell therapy as compared to somatic stem cells.     

Putative embryonic stem cell lines from pig embryos

Embryonic stem cells (ES cells) were first established in the mouse, and they represent a population of pluripotent, undifferentiated cells derived from early embryos that is capable of proliferating without any limitation in an undifferentiated state. These cells retain the ability to differentiate in vitro or in vivo into derivates of all three germ layers, and when injected into blastocysts, they can participate in the formation of all tissues, including gonads (germ-line chimeras). It is possible to transfect them with a gene of interest, and the resulting transgenic cell lines can also be used for production of chimeras. Unfortunately, mammalian germ-line chimeras that can carry an inserted gene into their progeny have only been produced in the mouse. Logically, before application of stem cell therapies into a human medicine, it is necessary to verify the efficiency and safety of these methods with an acceptable animal model. The pig is currently used as a very convenient animal for pre-clinical applications, and therefore establishment of porcine ES cell lines is highly needed; unfortunately, no convincing ES cell lines have been produced in this species (and other domestic animals) to date. In this article, we discuss the recent advances in this field, especially oriented on possible reasons and obstacles why derivation of porcine ES cell lines is still unsuccessful.     

Induced pluripotent stem cell generation from bovine somatic cells indicates unmet needs for pluripotency sustenance

Mechanisms that direct reprogramming of differentiated somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), albeit incomplete in understanding, are highly conserved across all mammalian species studied. Equally, proof of principle that iPSCs can be derived from domestic cattle has been reported in several publications. In our efforts to derive and study bovine iPSCs, we encountered inadequacy of methods to generate, sustain, and characterize these cells. Our results suggest that iPSC protocols optimized for mouse and human somatic cells do not effectively translate to bovine somatic cells, which show some refractoriness to reprogramming that also affects sustenance. Moreover, methods that enhance reprogramming efficiency in mouse and human cells had no effect on improving bovine cell reprogramming. Although use of retroviral vectors coding for bovine OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, cMYC, and NANOG appeared to produce consistent iPSC‐like cells from both fibroblasts and cells from the Wharton's jelly, these colonies could not be sustained. Use of bovine genes could successfully reprogram both mouse and human cells. These findings indicated either incomplete reprogramming and/or discordant/inadequate culture conditions for bovine pluripotent stem cells. Therefore, additional studies that advance core knowledge of bovine pluripotency are necessary before any anticipated iPSC‐driven bovine technologies can be realized.     

猪多潜能干细胞系的研究进展

猪多潜能干细胞是在体外建立起来的具有自我更新及三胚层分化潜能的一类干细胞,可应用于发育生物学研究、基因组编辑和疾病模型建立等各方面,在畜牧业生产及再生医学研究中具有重要的应用价值。培养体系对多潜能干细胞的成功构建具有重要意义,其包含多种成分,包括基础培养液、氨基酸等营养成分、小分子化合物(信号通路激活剂/抑制剂及细胞因子)共同维持细胞的多能性并抑制其分化。目前已有诸多关于猪多潜能干细胞的报道,但尚未获得高效的培养体系可以维持猪多潜能干细胞的长期传代并完成生殖嵌合。猪多潜能干细胞可分为原始态(Na6ve)、形成态(Formative)及始发态(Primed)3种不同多能性的状态特点,根据建系来源的不同分为猪扩展多潜能干细胞、猪胚胎干细胞、猪前原肠胚上胚层干细胞、猪诱导多能干细胞4种干细胞类型。作者综述了猪多潜能干细胞培养体系中常用的细胞因子和信号通路激活剂/抑制剂对猪多潜能干细胞的多能性和分化能力的影响和作用,为进一步建立具有真正生殖嵌合能力的Na6ve多能性的猪多潜能干细胞系提供研究思路。     

Cell-free extract from porcine induced pluripotent stem cells can affect porcine somatic cell nuclear reprogramming

Pretreatment of somatic cells with undifferentiated cell extracts, such as embryonic stem cells and mammalian oocytes, is an attractive alternative method for reprogramming control. The properties of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are similar to those of embryonic stem cells; however, no studies have reported somatic cell nuclear reprogramming using iPSC extracts. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of porcine iPSC extracts treatment on porcine ear fibroblasts and early development of porcine cloned embryos produced from porcine ear skin fibroblasts pretreated with the porcine iPSC extracts. The Chariot^TM reagent system was used to deliver the iPSC extracts into cultured porcine ear skin fibroblasts. The iPSC extracts-treated cells (iPSC-treated cells) were cultured for 3 days and used for analyzing histone modification and somatic cell nuclear transfer. Compared to the results for nontreated cells, the trimethylation status of histone H3 lysine residue 9 (H3K9) in the iPSC-treated cells significantly decreased. The expression of Jmjd2b, the H3K9 trimethylation-specific demethylase gene, significantly increased in the iPSC-treated cells; conversely, the expression of the proapoptotic genes, Bax and p53, significantly decreased. When the iPSC-treated cells were transferred into enucleated porcine oocytes, no differences were observed in blastocyst development and total cell number in blastocysts compared with the results for control cells. However, H3K9 trimethylation of pronuclear-stage-cloned embryos significantly decreased in the iPSC-treated cells. Additionally, Bax and p53 gene expression in the blastocysts was significantly lower in iPSC-treated cells than in control cells. To our knowledge, this study is the first to show that an extracts of porcine iPSCs can affect histone modification and gene expression in porcine ear skin fibroblasts and cloned embryos.     

Perspectives of germ cell development in vitro in mammals

Pluripotent stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are able to differentiate into all cell lineages of the embryo proper, including germ cells. This pluripotent property has a huge impact on the fields of regenerative medicine, developmental biology and reproductive engineering. Establishing the germ cell lineage from ESCs/iPSCs is the key biological subject, since it would contribute not only to dissection of the biological processes of germ cell development but also to production of unlimited numbers of functional gametes in vitro. Toward this goal, we recently established a culture system that induces functional mouse primordial germ cells (PGCs), precursors of all germ cells, from mouse ESCs/iPSCs. The successful in vitro production of PGCs arose from the study of pluripotent cell state, the signals inducing PGCs and the technology of transplantation. However, there are many obstacles to be overcome for the robust generation of mature gametes or for application of the culture system to other species, including humans and livestock. In this review, we discuss the requirements for a culture system to generate the germ cell lineage from ESCs/iPSCs.     

禽类多能性干细胞研究进展

胚胎干细胞是未分化的具有增殖和自我更新能力的细胞,并且能分化成所有类型的体细胞以及生殖细胞。它们提供了早期胚胎分化的体外模型,也是基因操作的重要靶细胞。禽类多能性干细胞培养最重要的应用领域是以干细胞体外遗传修饰、鉴定为技术平台的家禽转基因技术。通过此技术对禽类基因进行遗传修饰与操作,在胚胎发育基础研究、转基因禽类生产及家禽育种等方面有巨大的应用前景。但是禽类多能性干细胞培养的许多基本问题仍亟待解决,如探索其建系的培养条件、揭示其维持多能性和增殖能力的分子机制等。文章综述了禽类多能性干细胞的分离方法、体外分化能力、嵌合体形成以及基因修饰方面的研究进展及目前的研究局限。     

Nanog基因的生物学功能研究进展

胚胎干细胞具有无限增殖能力和多向分化潜能决定了它在医学及生物学基础研究中具有巨大的应用潜力。探索维持胚胎干细胞特性的分子机制成为胚胎干细胞的生物学研究中的热点。研究发现与维持胚胎干细胞多能性相关的基因有Oct4、Nanog、Sox2等，其中Nanog是2003年5月末发现的一个基因，它对维持胚胎干细胞多能性起关键性作用，能够独立于L1F/Stats维持ICM和ES细胞的多能性。几年来，Nanog的生物学功能及其与Oct4、Sox2等多能性维持基因之间的相互作用关系已有较为深入的研究。作者在综述Nanog基因的表达特征和功能的基础上，重点探讨Nanog基因表达调控以及Oct4、Sox2等多能性维持基因之间的相互作用关系，并展望其应用前景。     

Twenty years of embryonic stem cell research in farm animals

Notable distinctions between an embryonic stem cell (ESC) and somatic cell are that an ESC can maintain an undifferentiated state indefinitely, self-renew, and is pluripotent, meaning that the ESC can potentially generate cells representing all the three primordial germ layers and contribute to the terminally differentiated cells of a conceptus. These attributes make the ESC an ideal source for genome editing for both agricultural and biomedical applications. Although, ESC lines have been successfully established from rodents and primates, authentic ungulate stem cell lines on the contrary are still not available. Outstanding issues including but not limited to differences in pluripotency characteristics among the existing ESC lines, pre-implantation embryo development, pluripotency pathways, and culture conditions plague our efforts to establish authentic ESC lines from farm animals. In this review, we highlight some of these issues and discuss how the recent derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) might augur the establishment of robust authentic ESC lines from farm animals.     

鸡胚胎干细胞及其应用研究进展

鸡胚胎干细胞是一种多能性干细胞,从X期胚盘分离胚盘细胞或早期鸡胚的生殖嵴分离原始生殖细胞,经体外长期抑制分化培养可得到鸡胚胎干细胞。为维持细胞在培养过程中的未分化状态,需要采用饲养层细胞培养,同时设计合理的培养液配方并添加多种抑制分化或促进增殖的细胞因子。通过碱性磷酸酶活性检测、胚胎表面特异性抗原检测、分化试验及嵌合体试验等方法,可对鸡胚胎干细胞进行准确鉴定。文章主要就鸡胚胎干细胞的分离、培养与鉴定方法的研究进展及其应用前景进行简要综述,为进一步发展更高效的鸡胚胎干细胞培养体系并应用于生产实践提供一定的借鉴。     

miRNA对干细胞重编程的影响

miRNA在胚胎干细胞(ES)细胞的自我更新及多能性中扮演重要角色,国内外研究结果表明,在体细胞形成诱导性多能干细胞(IPS)的过程中,许多miRNA与Sox2、Oct4和Nanog等调控因子组成调控网络。miRNA在细胞周期、重编程及表型建立过程中也起着重要的调控作用。另外,在IPS细胞形成中,miRNA很有可能代替关键转录因子。     

Generation of porcine induced pluripotent stem cells and evaluation of their major histocompatibility complex protein expression in vitro

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are thought to be highly beneficial in the field of regenerative medicine and are believed to overcome immunogenic barriers to cell transplantation. However, issues remain regarding their safety and efficiency for medical use. Furthermore, some recent reports have suggested that iPSCs could be targeted by the autologous immune system. To promote practical applications of iPSCs, in depth research using appropriate animal models is needed and porcine species appear to provide an ideal model. Recent studies have focused on the generation of porcine iPSC cells, but no investigations of their immunological properties have been conducted to date. In the present study, we generated putative iPSCs from porcine somatic cells and measured major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression on the iPSCs and their derivatives. Compact colonies that expressed pluripotent markers appeared 11 days after viral infection. Embryonic bodies (EB) were produced and differentiated into three germ layers in vitro. Karyotyping and swine leukocyte antigen (SLA) typing showed that the iPSCs were identical to parental somatic cells. Porcine iPSCs expressed only low levels of MHC class I and moderately increased levels on their differentiated derivatives, whereas MHC class II was rarely expressed. In the presence of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), the expression of MHC class I was elevated on differentiated iPSCs, and gradually decreased after withdrawal of the cytokine. Our data suggest that porcine iPSCs could be useful for preclinical studies of the efficiency and viability of iPSCs, and for devising strategies to rescue transplanted cells from the autologous immune system.     

胚胎干细胞及种系嵌合体的研究进展

胚胎干细胞是着床前的囊胚内细胞团或早期胎儿的原始生殖细胞经体外分化抑制培养建立的多能性细胞系 ,具有与胚胎细胞相似的形态特征和分化潜能 ,体外培养时保持未分化状态 ,可以传代增殖。改变维持胚胎干细胞不分化的培养条件 ,胚胎干细胞可自发分化成多细胞结构。在一定诱导下 ,胚胎干细胞可向多个方向分化 ,并生成多种功能细胞。胚胎干细胞注入到胚泡期胚胎或与桑椹期胚胎聚合 ,可以参与包括性腺在内的各种组织的嵌合体的形成。胚胎干细胞在细胞分化与调控 ,胚胎发育 ,遗传病 ,肿瘤 ,免疫和组织或器官移植等研究中显示着广泛的应用前景。而种系嵌合体的获得是实现 ES细胞途径的决定步骤 ,低的种系嵌合率则是制约 ES细胞应用的关键。提高供体 PGCs在受体生殖腺中的比例 ,缩短 ES细胞的体外培养时间 ,以及注入早期发育阶段的受体胚胎等都能提高种系嵌合率。文章从多个方面综述了胚胎干细胞的最新研究成果 ,并着重以禽类 ES细胞为例论述了种系嵌合体的检测方法 ,种系嵌合率的影响因素以及提高种系嵌合率的方法     

Mice cloned by nuclear transfer from somatic and ntES cells derived from the same individuals

The current success rate of cloned mice from adult somatic cell nuclei is very low, whereas it is relatively high for cloned mice from ES cell nuclei. In this experiment, we examined whether the success rate of cloning from somatic cells could be improved via nuclear transfer embryonic stem cells (ntES cells) established from somatic cell nuclei. We obtained 11 cloned mice and 68 ntES cell lines from the somatic cell nuclei of 7 mice, and cloned 41 mice were cloned from the ntES cell nuclei. Unexpectedly, the overall success rate of cloning from ntES cell nuclei in this series was no better than when using somatic cell nuclei. Interestingly, full-term cloned mice were produced only via ntES cells from two individuals, but not by direct nuclear transfer from the somatic cells, and vice versa. Ultimately, we were able to obtain clone mice from 6 out of 7 individuals using either somatic cells or ntES cells. Thus, although ntES cells as donor nuclei do not absolutely assure a better success rate for mouse cloning than somatic cells, to preserve and clone valuable individuals, we recommend that ntES cell lines be established. These can then be used as an unlimited source of donor nuclei for nuclear transfer, and thus complement conventional somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning approaches.     

Isolation and culture of rabbit primordial germ cells

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are embryonic precursors of the gametes of adult animals and are considered stem cells of the germline. Since their proliferation in vitro correlates well with the schedule of developmental changes in vivo, they might be interesting research tools for genomic imprinting, germ-cell tumors and fertility. Furthermore, once primordial germ cells are separated and placed on a feeder layer with cytokines, they become cultured pluripotent cell lines called embryonic germ (EG) cells. EG cells share several important characteristics with embryonic stem (ES) cells as they can also contribute to the germ line of chimeras. To investigate the characteristics of PGCs and establish rabbit EG (rEG) cells, we cultured rabbit PGCs (rPGCs) in vitro with various combinations of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and forskolin on inactivated mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeder layers. The present study found PGC proliferation in early cultures and induction of rEG-like colonies. These cells expressed pluripotent markers, such as alkaline phosphatase activity, OCT-4, Sox-2 and SSEA-1, in the undifferentiated state; however, the cells did not develop into a teratoma when injected into the kidney capsules of SCID mice, although the restricted differentiation potentials to neural cells were determined via embryoid body formation. From these characteristics and further characterization of the germ stem cell markers Vasa, SCP-1 and SCP-3, we suggested that these were hybrid cells with characteristics somewhere between PGC and EG cells.