Direct conversion of human fibroblasts into retinal pigment epithelium-like cells by defined factors.
The generation of functional retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is of great therapeutic interest to the field of regenerative medicine and may provide possible cures for retinal degenerative diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Although RPE cells can be produced from either embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells, direct cell reprogramming driven by lineage-determining transcription factors provides an immediate route to their generation. By monitoring a human RPE specific Best1::GFP reporter, we report the conversion of human fibroblasts into RPE lineage using defined sets of transcription factors. We found that Best1::GFP positive cells formed colonies and exhibited morphological and molecular features of early stage RPE cells. Moreover, they were able to obtain pigmentation upon activation of Retinoic acid (RA) and Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathways. Our study not only established an ideal platform to investigate the transcriptional network regulating the RPE cell fate determination, but also provided an alternative strategy to generate functional RPE cells that complement the use of pluripotent stem cells for disease modeling, drug screening, and cell therapy of retinal degeneration.
Gene Expression Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Kejing
K
Zhang
Guang-Hui
GH
Liu
Fei
F
Yi
Nuria
N
Montserrat
Tomoaki
T
Hishida
Concepcion Rodriguez
CR
Esteban
Juan Carlos
JC
Izpisua Belmonte
D000818:Animals; D000075002:Bestrophins; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D019070:Cell Lineage; D018118:Chloride Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D010858:Pigmentation; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
C113133:BEST1 protein, human; D000075002:Bestrophins; D018118:Chloride Channels; D005136:Eye Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins