title: In vitro differentiation of reprogrammed murine somatic cells into hepatic precursor cells.
abstract: Recently, a new approach to reprogram somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells was shown by fusion of somatic cells with embryonic stem (ES) cells, which results in a tetraploid karyotype. Normal hepatocytes are often polyploid, so we decided to investigate the differentiation potential of fusion hybrids into hepatic cells. We chose toxic milk mice (a model of Wilson's disease) and performed initial transplantation experiments using this potential cell therapy approach. Mononuclear bone marrow cells from Rosa26 mice were fused with OG2 (Oct4-GFP transgenic) ES cells. Unfused ES cells were eliminated by selection with G418 for OG2-Rosa26 hybrids and fusion-derived colonies could be subcloned. Using an endodermal differentiation protocol, hepatic precursor cells could be generated. After FACS depletion of contaminating Oct4-GFP-positive cells, the hepatic precursor cells were transplanted into immunosuppressed toxic milk mice by intrasplenic injection. However, five out of eight mice showed teratoma formation within 3-6 weeks after transplantation in the spleen and liver. In conclusion, a hepatic precursor cell type was achieved from mononuclear bone marrow cell-ES cell hybrids and preliminary transplantation experiments confirmed engraftment, but also showed teratoma formation, which needs to be excluded by using more stringent purification strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Röntgenstr. 20, Münster, Germany. t.cantz@mpi-muenster.mpg.de
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cantz
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bleidissel
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stehling
authors.forename: Hans R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Schöler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002459:Cell Fusion; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004707:Endoderm / Q000166:cytology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000378:metabolism; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494174:Pou5f1 protein, mouse; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins