scholarly journals Young at Heart: Pioneering Approaches to Model Nonischaemic Cardiomyopathy with Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife Gowran ◽  
Marco Rasponi ◽  
Roberta Visone ◽  
Patrizia Nigro ◽  
Gianluca L. Perrucci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Drug Screening ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Human Fibroblasts ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

A mere 9 years have passed since the revolutionary report describing the derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells from human fibroblasts and the first in-patient translational use of cells obtained from these stem cells has already been achieved. From the perspectives of clinicians and researchers alike, the promise of induced pluripotent stem cells is alluring if somewhat beguiling. It is now evident that this technology is nascent and many areas for refinement have been identified and need to be considered before induced pluripotent stem cells can be routinely used to stratify, treat and cure patients, and to faithfully model diseases for drug screening purposes. This review specifically addresses the pioneering approaches to improve induced pluripotent stem cell based models of nonischaemic cardiomyopathy.

scholarly journals In Situ Expansion, Differentiation, and Electromechanical Coupling of Human Cardiac Muscle in a 3D Bioprinted, Chambered Organoid

2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly E. Kupfer ◽  
Wei-Han Lin ◽  
Vasanth Ravikumar ◽  
Kaiyan Qiu ◽  
Lu Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Cardiac Muscle ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Pump Function ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Rationale: One goal of cardiac tissue engineering is the generation of a living, human pump in vitro that could replace animal models and eventually serve as an in vivo therapeutic. Models that replicate the geometrically complex structure of the heart, harboring chambers and large vessels with soft biomaterials, can be achieved using 3-dimensional bioprinting. Yet, inclusion of contiguous, living muscle to support pump function has not been achieved. This is largely due to the challenge of attaining high densities of cardiomyocytes—a notoriously nonproliferative cell type. An alternative strategy is to print with human induced pluripotent stem cells, which can proliferate to high densities and fill tissue spaces, and subsequently differentiate them into cardiomyocytes in situ. Objective: To develop a bioink capable of promoting human induced pluripotent stem cell proliferation and cardiomyocyte differentiation to 3-dimensionally print electromechanically functional, chambered organoids composed of contiguous cardiac muscle. Methods and Results: We optimized a photo-crosslinkable formulation of native ECM (extracellular matrix) proteins and used this bioink to 3-dimensionally print human induced pluripotent stem cell–laden structures with 2 chambers and a vessel inlet and outlet. After human induced pluripotent stem cells proliferated to a sufficient density, we differentiated the cells within the structure and demonstrated function of the resultant human chambered muscle pump. Human chambered muscle pumps demonstrated macroscale beating and continuous action potential propagation with responsiveness to drugs and pacing. The connected chambers allowed for perfusion and enabled replication of pressure/volume relationships fundamental to the study of heart function and remodeling with health and disease. Conclusions: This advance represents a critical step toward generating macroscale tissues, akin to aggregate-based organoids, but with the critical advantage of harboring geometric structures essential to the pump function of cardiac muscle. Looking forward, human chambered organoids of this type might also serve as a test bed for cardiac medical devices and eventually lead to therapeutic tissue grafting.

scholarly journals A novel GNAS-mutated human induced pluripotent stem cell model for understanding GNAS-mutated tumors

Tumor Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (9) ◽  
pp. 101042832096258
Author(s):  
Katsuhito Watanabe ◽  
Takashi Nakamura ◽  
Shoko Onodera ◽  
Akiko Saito ◽  
Takahiko Shibahara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Cell Model ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Immunohistochemical Analysis ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

A missense mutation of the guanine nucleotide binding protein alpha stimulating activity polypeptide 1 ( GNAS) gene, typically Arg201Cys or Arg201His (R201H/R201C), leads to constitutive activation of the Gsα-cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling pathway that causes several diseases. However, no germline mutations of GNAS have been identified to date, likely due to their lethality, and no robust human cell models have been generated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to generate GNAS-mutated disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells as a model for these diseases. We then analyzed the functionality of this induced pluripotent stem cell model and differentiated epithelial cells. We generated disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells by introducing a mutation in GNAS with the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) nickase method, which has lower off-target effects than the conventional CRISPR/Cas9 method. We designed the target vector to contain the R201H mutation in GNAS, which was transfected into human control induced pluripotent stem cells (Nips-B2) by electroporation. We confirmed the establishment of GNASR201H -mutated ( GNASR201H/+) induced pluripotent stem cells that exhibited a pluripotent stem cell phenotype. We analyzed the effect of the mutation on cAMP production, and further generated teratomas for immunohistochemical analysis of the luminal epithelial structure. GNAS-mutated induced pluripotent stem cells showed significantly higher levels of intracellular cAMP, which remained elevated state for a long time upon hormonal stimulation with parathyroid hormone or adrenocorticotropic hormone. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that several mucins, including MUC1, 2, and MUC5AC, are expressed in cytokeratin 18 (CK18)-positive epithelial cells. However, we found few CK18-positive cells in mutated induced pluripotent stem cell–derived teratoma tissues, and reduced MUCINs expression in mutated epithelial cells. There was no difference in CDX2 expression; however, mutated epithelial cells were positive for CEA and CA19-9 expression. GNASR201H-mutated induced pluripotent stem cells and GNASR201H-mutated epithelial cells have distinct phenotypic and differentiation characteristics. We successfully established GNASR201H-mutated human induced pluripotent stem cells with increased cAMP production. Considering the differentiation potential of induced pluripotent stem cells, these cells will be useful as a model for elucidating the pathological mechanisms of GNAS-mutated diseases.

Functional coculture of sympathetic neurons and cardiomyocytes derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells

2020 ◽  
Vol 319 (5) ◽  
pp. H927-H937
Author(s):  
Annika Winbo ◽  
Suganeya Ramanan ◽  
Emily Eugster ◽  
Stefan Jovinge ◽  
Jonathan R. Skinner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Sympathetic Neurons ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

We present data on a functional coculture between human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived sympathetic neurons and cardiomyocytes. Moreover, this study adds significantly to the available data on the electrophysiological function of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived sympathetic neurons.

scholarly journals Autologous correction in patient induced pluripotent stem cell-endothelial cells to identify a novel pathogenic mutation of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 204589401988535
Author(s):  
Fang Zhou ◽  
Xiuli Zhao ◽  
Xiu Liu ◽  
Yanyan Liu ◽  
Feng Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Endothelial Cells ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Differentiation Potential ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia is a rare disease with autosomal dominant inheritance. More than 80% hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia patients carry heterozygous mutations of Endoglin or Activin receptor-like kinase-1 genes. Endoglin plays important roles in vasculogenesis and human vascular disease. In this report, we found a novel missense mutation (c.88T > C) of Endoglin gene in a hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia 1 patient. Induced pluripotent stem cells of the patient were generated and differentiated into endothelial cells. The hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia-induced pluripotent stem cells have reduced differentiation potential toward vascular endothelial cells and defective angiogenesis with impaired tube formation. Endoplasmic reticulum retention of the mutant Endoglin (Cys30Arg, C30R) causes less functional protein trafficking to cell surface, which contributes to the pathogenesis of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/Cas9 genetic correction of the c.88T > C mutation in induced pluripotent stem cells revealed that C30R mutation of Endoglin affects bone morphogenetic protein 9 downstream signaling. By establishing a human induced pluripotent stem cell from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells and autologous correction on mutant hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia-induced pluripotent stem cells, we were able to identify a new disease-causing mutation, which facilitates us to understand the roles of Endoglin in vascular development and pathogenesis of related vascular diseases.

scholarly journals Human and mouse iPSC-derived astrocyte subtypes reveal vulnerability in Vanishing White Matter

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prisca S. Leferink ◽  
Stephanie Dooves ◽  
Anne E.J. Hillen ◽  
Kyoko Watanabe ◽  
Gerbren Jacobs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent ◽  
Vanishing White Matter ◽  
Human And Mouse

AbstractAstrocytes gained attention as important players in neurological disease, including a number of leukodystrophies. Several studies explored the generation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived astrocytes for drug screening and regenerative studies. Developing robust models of patient induced pluripotent stem cells is challenged by high variability due to diverse genetic backgrounds and long-term culture procedures. While human models are of special interest, mouse-based models have the advantage that for them these issues are less pronounced. Here we present astrocyte differentiation protocols for both human and mouse induced pluripotent stem cells to specifically induce grey and white matter astrocytes. Both subtypes expressed astrocyte-associated markers, had typical astrocyte morphologies, and gave a reactive response to stress. Importantly, the grey and white matter-like astrocytes differed in size, complexity of processes, and expression profile, conform primary grey and white matter astrocytes. The newly presented mouse and human stem cell-based models for the leukodystrophy Vanishing White Matter replicated earlier findings, such as increased proliferation, decreased OPC maturation and modulation by hyaluronidase. We studied intrinsic astrocyte subtype vulnerability in Vanishing White Matter in both human and mouse cells. Oligodendrocyte maturation was specifically inhibited in cultures with Vanishing White Matter white matter-like astrocytes. By performing RNA sequencing, we found more differentially regulated genes in the white than in the grey matter-like astrocytes. Human and mouse astrocytes showed the same affected pathways, although human white matter-like astrocytes presented human-specific disease mechanisms involved in Vanishing White Matter. Using both human and mouse induced pluripotent stem cells, our study presents protocols to generate white and grey matter-like astrocytes, and shows astrocyte subtype-specific defects in Vanishing White Matter. While mouse induced pluripotent stem cell-based cultures may be less suitable to mimic human astrocyte subtype- or patient-specific changes, they might more robustly represent disease mutation-related cellular phenotypes as the cells are derived from inbred mice and the protocols are faster. The presented models give new tools to generate astrocyte subtypes for in vitro disease modeling and in vivo regenerative applications.

scholarly journals An Important Role for DNMT3A-Mediated DNA Methylation in Cardiomyocyte Metabolism and Contractility

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (16) ◽  
pp. 1562-1578
Author(s):  
Alexandra Madsen ◽  
Grit Höppner ◽  
Julia Krause ◽  
Marc N. Hirt ◽  
Sandra D. Laufer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cells ◽  
Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Heart Tissue ◽  
Engineered Heart Tissue ◽  
Induced Pluripotent

Background: DNA methylation acts as a mechanism of gene transcription regulation. It has recently gained attention as a possible therapeutic target in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. However, its exact role in cardiomyocytes remains controversial. Thus, we knocked out the main de novo DNA methyltransferase in cardiomyocytes, DNMT3A, in human induced pluripotent stem cells. Functional consequences of DNA methylation-deficiency under control and stress conditions were then assessed in human engineered heart tissue from knockout human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes. Methods: DNMT3A was knocked out in human induced pluripotent stem cells by CRISPR/Cas9gene editing. Fibrin-based engineered heart tissue was generated from knockout and control human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes. Development and baseline contractility were analyzed by video-optical recording. Engineered heart tissue was subjected to different stress protocols, including serum starvation, serum variation, and restrictive feeding. Molecular, histological, and ultrastructural analyses were performed afterward. Results: Knockout of DNMT3A in human cardiomyocytes had three main consequences for cardiomyocyte morphology and function: (1) Gene expression changes of contractile proteins such as higher atrial gene expression and lower MYH7/MYH6 ratio correlated with different contraction kinetics in knockout versus wild-type; (2) Aberrant activation of the glucose/lipid metabolism regulator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma was associated with accumulation of lipid vacuoles within knockout cardiomyocytes; (3) Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α protein instability was associated with impaired glucose metabolism and lower glycolytic enzyme expression, rendering knockout-engineered heart tissue sensitive to metabolic stress such as serum withdrawal and restrictive feeding. Conclusion: The results suggest an important role of DNA methylation in the normal homeostasis of cardiomyocytes and during cardiac stress, which could make it an interesting target for cardiac therapy.

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