title: Marked differences in differentiation propensity among human embryonic stem cell lines.
abstract: The differentiation potential of 17 human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines was compared. Some lines exhibit a marked propensity to differentiate into specific lineages, often with >100-fold differences in lineage-specific gene expression. For example, HUES 8 is best for pancreatic differentiation and HUES 3 for cardiomyocyte generation. These non-trivial differences in developmental potential among hES cell lines point to the importance of screening and deriving lines for lineage-specific differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Stem Cell Institute, 42 Church Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Osafune
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caron
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borowiak
authors.forename: Rita J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Claire S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Fitz-Gerald
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Chad A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: Kenneth R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.forename: Douglas A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Melton
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans