Mol Ther. 2019 Apr 17. pii: S1525-0016(19)30177-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.04.011. [Epub ahead of print]

Efficient Neural Differentiation of hPSCs by Extrinsic Signals Derived from Co-cultured Neural Stem or Precursor Cells.

Rhee YH¹, Puspita L², Sulistio YA¹, Kim SW¹, Vidyawan V², Elvira R², Chang MY¹, Shim JW³, Lee SH⁴.

Abstract

In this study, we found that undifferentiated human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs; up to 30% of total cells) present in the cultures of neural stem or precursor cells (NPCs) completely disappeared within several days when cultured under neural differentiation culture conditions. Intriguingly, the disappearance of undifferentiated cells was not due to cell death but was instead mediated by neural conversion of hPSCs. Based on these findings, we propose pre-conditioning of donor NPC cultures under terminal differentiation culture conditions as a simple but efficient method of eliminating undifferentiated cells to treat neurologic disorders. In addition, we could establish a new neural differentiation protocol, in which undifferentiated hPSCs co-cultured with NPCs become differentiated neurons or NPCs in an extremely efficient, fast, and reproducible manner across the hESC and human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines.

Copyright © 2019 The American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.