title: TeratoScore: Assessing the Differentiation Potential of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells by Quantitative Expression Analysis of Teratomas.
abstract: Teratoma formation is the gold standard assay for testing the capacity of human pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into all embryonic germ layers. Although widely used, little effort has been made to transform this qualitative assay into a quantitative one. Using gene expression data from a wide variety of cells, we created a scorecard representing tissues from all germ layers and extraembryonic tissues. TeratoScore, an online, open-source platform based on this scorecard, distinguishes pluripotent stem cell-derived teratomas from malignant tumors, translating cell potency into a quantitative measure (http://benvenisty.huji.ac.il/teratoscore.php). The teratomas used for the algorithm also allowed us to examine gene expression differences between tumors with a diploid karyotype and those initiated by aneuploid cells. Chromosomally aberrant teratomas show a significantly different gene expression signature from that of teratomas originating from diploid cells, particularly in central nervous system-specific genes, congruent with human chromosomal syndromes.
authors.affiliation: The Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research, Department of Genetics, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: Yishai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Avior
authors.affiliation: Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA; Department of Biomedical Sciences and Regenerative Medicine Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Biancotti
authors.affiliation: The Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research, Department of Genetics, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. Electronic address: nissimb@cc.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Nissim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benvenisty
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D004171:Diploidy; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013724:Teratoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D059467:Transcriptome; D014584:User-Computer Interface