title: Human induced pluripotent stem cells derived under feeder-free conditions display unique cell cycle and DNA replication gene profiles.
abstract: Use of animal feeder layers and serum containing media in the derivation and propagation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can hinder clinical translation, because of the presence of xeno-material/pathogens. A defined and standardized system would be ideal for generating a homogenous population of iPSCs, which closely resembles human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). This article presents a novel and extensive comparison between in-house produced iPSCs and hESCs under "feeder" and "feeder-free" conditions, using transcriptomic genome-wide microarray analysis. We generated a list of pluripotency-associated and bivalent domain-containing genes by meta-analysis to measure qualitatively the degree of reprogramming in feeder-free derived iPSCs, in which both profiles displayed similar levels of gene expression as in hESCs. Gene ontology analysis showed that feeder-free iPSCs have enriched terms belonging to DNA repair/replication and cell cycle, which are signature to pluripotent cells. Transcriptomic data combined with directed differentiation assays, indicated that variability among iPSC lines is minimized when using a feeder-free cultural system, which may serve as a platform for further developing regenerative medicine compliant human iPSCs.
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Laboratory, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Henry C Y
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Ruby C Y
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Grant J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.forename: Ian E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Perminder S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sachdev
authors.forename: Kuldip S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Sidhu
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D004249:DNA Damage; D004260:DNA Repair; D004261:DNA Replication; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D061252:Feeder Cells; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004247:DNA