title: Gene regulation networks related to neural differentiation of hESC.
abstract: With the unique property of self-renewal and developmental pluripotency, human embryonic stem cells (hESC) provide an opportunity to study molecular aspects of developmental biology. Understanding gene regulation of hESC pluripotency is a critical step toward directing hESC differentiation for regenerative medicine. However, currently little is known about hESC gene regulation of hESC pluripotency. Applying network analysis to microarray gene expression profiling data, we compared gene expression profiles from pluripotent hESC to hESC-derived astrocytes and identified potential gene regulation networks. These gene regulation networks suggest that hECS has stringent control of cell cycle and apoptosis. Our data reveal several potential hESC differentiation biomarkers and suggest that IGF2 and A2M could play a role in hESC pluripotency by altering the availability of cytokines at the local environment of hECS. These findings underscore the importance of network analysis among differentially expressed genes, and should facilitate future study for understanding the gene regulation of hESC pluripotency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. jzhong@usc.edu
authors.forename: Jiang F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Yahui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gamache
authors.forename: Kathleen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: Brett T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Lund
authors.forename: Leslie P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Weiner
mesh_terms: D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology; D015415:Biomarkers; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000166:cytology*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers