Interfacing human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons with designed nanowire arrays as a future platform for medical applications

Introduction: Current screening for mutations in human disease is turning increasingly to next-generation methods that map short reads to a reference sequence. We report here an unusual variant that was undetected by next generation sequencing in a patient diagnosed with Jervell Lange-Nielsen syndrome (JLNS) and initial results in an induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (iPSC-CM) model. Methods and Results: A diagnosis of JLNS was made in a middle-aged woman with congenital deafness and QT intervals as long as 800 msec. However, next-generation sequencing found only a heterozygous KCNQ1 mutation, R518X. Convinced by the clinical phenotype that a second causative variant was highly likely, we used Sanger sequencing of PCR KCNQ1 amplicons to identify a 36-basepair poly-adenine tract, encoding 12 lysines, inserted within the coding sequence at the 5’ end of exon 15. Electrophysiological studies in patient-specific IPSC-CMs revealed marked prolongation of ventricular-like action potentials (Figure). Conclusion: Long inserts of the type we identified here have not been previously reported in the long QT syndromes. We speculate that next generation-based short reads containing this variant could not be mapped to a reference sequence and thus this type of variant will be missed by next-generation analysis unless bioinformatics filters are specifically modified to include this possibility. Validation of this long QT syndrome iPSC-CM model provides a human cell based platform for drug discovery and mechanistic studies to further our understanding of disease pathogenesis.

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Comparative Analysis of Blood‐Derived Endothelial Cells for Designing Next‐Generation Personalized Organ‐on‐Chips

Journal of the American Heart Association ◽

10.1161/jaha.121.022795 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tanmay Mathur ◽

James J. Tronolone ◽

Abhishek Jain

Keyword(s):

Endothelial Cells ◽

Stem Cell ◽

Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽

Primary Cells ◽

Next Generation ◽

Preclinical Research ◽

Chip Technology ◽

Induced Pluripotent

Background Organ‐on‐chip technology has accelerated in vitro preclinical research of the vascular system, and a key strength of this platform is its promise to impact personalized medicine by providing a primary human cell–culture environment where endothelial cells are directly biopsied from individual tissue or differentiated through stem cell biotechniques. However, these methods are difficult to adopt in laboratories, and often result in impurity and heterogeneity of cells. This limits the power of organ‐chips in making accurate physiological predictions. In this study, we report the use of blood‐derived endothelial cells as alternatives to primary and induced pluripotent stem cell–derived endothelial cells. Methods and Results Here, the genotype, phenotype, and organ‐chip functional characteristics of blood‐derived outgrowth endothelial cells were compared against commercially available and most used primary endothelial cells and induced pluripotent stem cell–derived endothelial cells. The methods include RNA‐sequencing, as well as criterion standard assays of cell marker expression, growth kinetics, migration potential, and vasculogenesis. Finally, thromboinflammatory responses under shear using vessel‐chips engineered with blood‐derived endothelial cells were assessed. Blood‐derived endothelial cells exhibit the criterion standard hallmarks of typical endothelial cells. There are differences in gene expression profiles between different sources of endothelial cells, but blood‐derived cells are relatively closer to primary cells than induced pluripotent stem cell–derived. Furthermore, blood‐derived endothelial cells are much easier to obtain from individuals and yet, they serve as an equally effective cell source for functional studies and organ‐chips compared with primary cells or induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cells. Conclusions Blood‐derived endothelial cells may be used in preclinical research for developing more robust and personalized next‐generation disease models using organ‐on‐chips.

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