Project description:We describe a so far uncharacterized, embryonic and self-renewing Neural Plate Border Stem Cell (NBSC) population with the capacity to differentiate into central nervous and neural crest lineages. NBSCs can be obtained by neural transcription factor-mediated reprogramming (BRN2, SOX2, KLF4, and ZIC3) of human adult dermal fibroblasts and peripheral blood cells (induced Neural Plate Border Stem Cells, iNBSCs) or by directed differentiation from human induced pluripotent stem cells (NBSCs). Moreover, human (i)NBSCs share molecular and functional features with an endogenous NBSC population isolated from neural folds of E8.5 mouse embryos. Upon differentiation, iNBSCs give rise to either (1) radial glia-type stem cells, dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons, motoneurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes or (2) cells from the neural crest lineage. Here we provide array-based methylation data of iNBSCs reprogrammed from adult dermal fibroblasts (ADF), iPSC-derived NBSCs and adult dermal fibroblasts. The data provided demonstrate robust changes in the methylation landscape after reprogramming of human adult dermal fibroblasts into iNBSCs.
Project description:Neural crest (NC) cells contribute to the development of many complex tissues. The abnormal development of NC cells accounts for a number of congenital birth defects. Generating NC cells, and more specifically NC subpopulations such as cranial, cardiac, and trunk NC cells from human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and human embryonic stem (ES) cells presents a valuable tool to model and study human NC development and disease. Here we provide a robust, efficient, and reproducible protocol for the differentiation of human iPS and ES cells into NC cells. The protocol has been validated in multiple human pluripotent stem cell lines and yields relatively pure NC cell populations in eight days. The resulting cells can be propagated and retain NC marker expression over multiple passages. The NC cells show proper cell specification and can develop into NC-derived cell lineages including smooth muscle cells, peripheral neurons, and Schwann cells. Additionally, the NC cells are functional and migrate to appropriate chemoattractants such as SDF-1, Fgf8b, BMP2, and Wnt3a. Importantly, this method generates all NC subpopulations (cranial, cardiac, and trunk) providing a great advantage to readily available NC differentiation methods. Neural crest cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells were profiled using Affymetrix Gene 1.0 arrays to identify differential gene expression changes and alternative exons from the open-source software AltAnalyze. An FDR adjusted emperical Bayes moderated t-test p < 0.05 was used to identify differentially expressed Ensembl genes and GO-Elite used to identify biologically relevant, Ontology, pathway and gene-set categories. Alternative exons were obtained using the FIRMA analysis option and default thresholds. Other array neural crest array and RNA-Seq dataset were compared to this to identify common and distinct regulatory mechanisms.
Project description:We describe a so far uncharacterized, embryonic and self-renewing Neural Plate Border Stem Cell (NBSC) population with the capacity to differentiate into central nervous and neural crest lineages. NBSCs can be obtained by neural transcription factor-mediated reprogramming (BRN2, SOX2, KLF4, and ZIC3) of human adult dermal fibroblasts and peripheral blood cells (induced Neural Plate Border Stem Cells, iNBSCs) or by directed differentiation from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Moreover, human (i)NBSCs share molecular and functional features with an endogenous NBSC population isolated from neural folds of E8.5 mouse embryos. Upon differentiation, iNBSCs give rise to either (1) radial glia-type stem cells, dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons, motoneurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes or (2) cells from the neural crest lineage. Here we provide array-based expression data of primary mouse Neural Plate Border Stem Cells (pNBSCs) derived from E8.5 mouse embryos and radial glia-type stem cells and neural crest progenitors derived thereof. The data provided reveal that pNBSCs can be directed into defined neural cell types of the CNS- and neural crest lineage.
Project description:We developed simple, robust, efficient, and serum-free/feeder-free induction protocol for neural crest cells from human pluripotent stem cells. To characterize the hNCCs and hNCC-derived MSCs, we performed gene expression profiling experiments. Comparison of gene expressions among hiPSCs, hESCs, hNCCs and hNC-MSCs
Project description:We developed simple, robust, efficient, and serum-free/feeder-free induction protocol for neural crest cells from human pluripotent stem cells. To characterize the hNCCs and hNCC-derived MSCs, we performed gene expression profiling experiments.
Project description:We describe a so far uncharacterized, embryonic and self-renewing Neural Plate Border Stem Cell (NBSC) population with the capacity to differentiate into central nervous and neural crest lineages. NBSCs can be obtained by neural transcription factor-mediated reprogramming (BRN2, SOX2, KLF4, and ZIC3) of human adult dermal fibroblasts and peripheral blood cells (induced Neural Plate Border Stem Cells, iNBSCs) or by directed differentiation from human induced pluripotent stem cells (NBSCs). Moreover, human (i)NBSCs share molecular and functional features with an endogenous NBSC population isolated from neural folds of E8.5 mouse embryos. Upon differentiation, iNBSCs give rise to either (1) radial glia-type stem cells, dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons, motoneurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes or (2) cells from the neural crest lineage. Here we provide array-based expression data of (i)NBSCs and CNS- and neural crest progeny derived thereof. The former comprise radial glia-type stem cells, while the latter are neural crest and mesenchymal stem cell-like cells. The data provided reveal that (i)NBSCs can be directed into defined neural lineages and that iNBSCs pass through successive developmental stages. These data support the notion that it is possible to reprogram human adult cells into expandable, multipotent NBSCs that define a novel embryonic neural stem cell population in human and mouse.
Project description:We describe a so far uncharacterized, embryonic and self-renewing Neural Plate Border Stem Cell (NBSC) population with the capacity to differentiate into central nervous and neural crest lineages. NBSCs can be obtained by neural transcription factor-mediated reprogramming (BRN2, SOX2, KLF4 and ZIC3) of human adult dermal fibroblasts and peripheral blood cells (induced Neural Plate Border Stem Cells, iNBSCs) or by directed differentiation from human induced pluripotent stem cells (NBSCs). Moreover, human (i)NBSCs share molecular and functional features with an endogenous NBSC population isolated from neural folds of E8.5 mouse embryos. Upon differentiation, iNBSCs give rise to either (1) radial glia-type stem cells, dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons, motoneurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes or (2) cells from the neural crest lineage. Here we provide single cell RNA-sequencing data of six iNBSC lines (310 cells total). iNBSCs were single-cell-sorted and RNA sequencing was performed following the Smart-seq2 protocol. This dataset further supports the notion that iNBSC cultures mainly consist of stem cells with a molecular and functional neural plate border-like identity and a minor fraction of cells that show signs of some spontaneous differentiation towards sensory neurons.
Project description:<p>Familial Dysautonomia (FD) is a developmental and degenerative genetic disease that manifests in the neural crest cells and peripheral nervous system (PNS). Despite all FD patients having the same mutation in <i>IKBKAP</i>, patients present with varying disease severity, ranging from mild to severe. We used the human pluripotent stem cell technology to recapitulate this varying disease severity in the dish. Further, we found that severe, but not mild patients harbor mutations in candidate modifier genes that may contribute to severe disease presentation.</p>
Project description:Melanocytes are pigment-producing cells of neural crest origin responsible for protecting the skin against UV-irradiation. Melanocyte dysfunction leads to pigmentation defects including albinism, vitiligo, and piebaldism and is a key feature of systemic pathologies such as Hermansky-Pudlak (HP) and Chediak-Higashi (CH) Syndromes. Pluripotent stem cell technology offers a novel approach for studying human melanocyte development and disease. Here we report that timed exposure to activators of WNT, BMP and EDN3 signaling triggers the sequential induction of neural crest and melanocyte precursor fates under dual-SMAD inhibition conditions. Using a SOX10::GFP hESC reporter line, we demonstrate that the temporal onset of WNT activation is particularly critical for human neural crest induction. Surprisingly, suppression of BMP signaling does reduce neural crest yield. Subsequent differentiation of hESC-derived melanocyte precursors under defined conditions yields pure populations of pigmented cells matching the molecular and functional properties of adult melanocytes. Melanocytes from patient-specific iPSCs faithfully reproduce the ultrastructural features of the HP- and CH-specific pigmentation defects with minimal variability across lines. Our data define a highly specific requirement for WNT signaling during neural crest induction and enable the generation of pure populations of hiPSC-derived melanocytes for faithful modeling of human pigmentation disorders. Total RNA obtained from embryonic stem cells (ESCs), ESC-derived melanocyte progenitors, ESC-derived mature melanocytes, primary melanocytes, and disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cell-derived melanocytes.
Project description:Knowledge of cell signaling pathways that drive human neural crest differentiation into craniofacial chondrocytes is incomplete, yet essential for using stem cells to regenerate craniomaxillofacial structures. To accelerate translational progress, we developed a differentiation protocol that generated self-organizing craniofacial cartilage organoids from human embryonic stem cell-derived neural crest stem cells. Histological staining of cartilage organoids revealed tissue architecture and staining typical of elastic cartilage. Protein and post-translational modification (PTM) mass spectrometry and snRNASeq data showed that chondrocyte organoids expressed robust levels of cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) components: many collagens, aggrecan, perlecan, proteoglycans, and elastic fibers. We identified two populations of chondroprogenitor cells, mesenchyme cells and nascent chondrocytes and the growth factors involved in paracrine signaling between them. We show that ECM components secreted by chondrocytes not only create a structurally resilient matrix that defines cartilage, but also play a pivotal autocrine cell signaling role to determine chondrocyte fate.