title: Graphene Oxide promotes embryonic stem cell differentiation to haematopoietic lineage.
abstract: Pluripotent stem cells represent a promising source of differentiated tissue-specific stem and multipotent progenitor cells for regenerative medicine and drug testing. The realisation of this potential relies on the establishment of robust and reproducible protocols of differentiation. Several reports have highlighted the importance of biomaterials in assisting directed differentiation. Graphene oxide (GO) is a novel material that has attracted increasing interest in the field of biomedicine. In this study, we demonstrate that GO coated substrates significantly enhance the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells to both primitive and definitive haematopoietic cells. GO does not affect cell proliferation or survival of differentiated cells but rather enhances the transition of haemangioblasts to haemogenic endothelial cells, a key step during haematopoietic specification. Importantly, GO also improves, in addition to murine, human ES cell differentiation to blood cells. Taken together, our study reveals a positive role for GO in haematopoietic differentiation and suggests that further functionalization of GO could represent a valid strategy for the generation of large numbers of functional blood cells. Producing these cells would accelerate haematopoietic drug toxicity testing and treatment of patients with blood disorders or malignancies.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Stem Cell Hematopoiesis Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Garcia-Alegria
authors.affiliation: School of Materials and National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iliut
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Stem Cell Biology Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stefanska
authors.affiliation: School of Materials and National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: School of Materials and National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heeg
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, Michael Smith Building, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kimber
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Stem Cell Hematopoiesis Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kouskoff
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Stem Cell Biology Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lacaud
authors.affiliation: School of Materials and National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Aravind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vijayaraghavan
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Stem Cell Biology Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Batta
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D000066449:Human Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D000066450:Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D022423:Myeloid Cells / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D006108:Graphite