Bone morphogenetic protein-4 promotes induction of cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells in serum-based embryoid body development

2009 ◽  
Vol 296 (6) ◽  
pp. H1793-H1803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunsuke Takei ◽  
Hinako Ichikawa ◽  
Kohei Johkura ◽  
Akimi Mogi ◽  
Heesung No ◽  
...  

Cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem (ES) cells are a potential source for cell-based therapy for heart diseases. We studied the effect of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4 in the presence of fetal bovine serum (FBS) on cardiac induction from human H1 ES cells during embryoid body (EB) development. Suspension culture for 4 days with 20% FBS produced the best results for the differentiation of early mesoderm and cardiomyocytes. The addition of Noggin reduced the incidence of beating EBs from 23.6% to 5.3%, which indicated the involvement of BMP signaling in the spontaneous cardiac differentiation. In this condition, treatment with 12.5–25 ng/ml BMP-4 during the 4-day suspension optimally promoted the cardiomyocyte differentiation. The incidence of beating EBs at 25 ng/ml BMP-4 reached 95.8% on day 6 of expansion and then plateaued until day 20. In real-time PCR analysis, the cardiac development-related genes MESP1 and Nkx2.5 were upregulated in the EB outgrowths by 25 ng/ml BMP-4. The activation of BMP signaling in EBs was confirmed by the increase in the phosphorylation of Smad1/5/8 and by the nuclear localization of phospho-Smad1/5/8 and Smad4. The addition of 150 ng/ml Noggin considerably decreased the incidence of beating EBs and Nkx2.5 expression, and Noggin alone increased Nestin expression and neural differentiation in EB outgrowths. The cardiomyocytes induced by 25 ng/ml BMP-4 showed proper cell biological characteristics and a course of differentiation as judged from isoproterenol administration, gene expression, protein assay, immunoreactivity, and subcellular structures. No remarkable change in the extent of apoptosis and proliferation in the cardiomyocytes was observed by BMP-4 treatment. These findings showed that BMP-4 in combination with FBS at the appropriate time and concentrations significantly promotes cardiomyocyte induction from human ES cells.

Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 516-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian T. Zafonte ◽  
Susanna Liu ◽  
Macarena Lynch-Kattman ◽  
Ingrid Torregroza ◽  
Luke Benvenuto ◽  
...  

Abstract Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling is an important regulator of hematovascular development. However, the progenitor population that responds to BMP signaling is undefined, and the relative role of downstream mediators including Smad1 is unclear. We find that Smad1 shows a distinctive expression profile as embryonic stem (ES) cells undergo differentiation in the embryoid body (EB) system, with peak levels in cell populations enriched for the hemangioblast. To test the functional relevance of this observation, we generated an ES cell line that allows temporal control of ectopic Smad1 expression. Continuous expression of Smad1 from day 2 of EB culture does not disturb hematopoiesis, according to colony assays. In contrast, a pulse of Smad1 expression exclusively between day 2 and day 2.25 expands the population of progenitors for primitive erythroblasts and other hematopoietic lineages. This effect correlates with increased levels of transcripts encoding markers for the hemangioblast, including Runx1, Scl, and Gata2. Indeed, the pulse of Smad1 induction also expands the blast colony-forming cell (BL-CFC) population at a level that is fully sufficient to explain subsequent increases in hematopoiesis. Our data demonstrate that Smad1 expression is sufficient to expand the number of cells that commit to hemangioblast fate.


Author(s):  
Sangeetha Vadakke-Madathil ◽  
Gina LaRocca ◽  
Koen Raedschelders ◽  
Jesse Yoon ◽  
Sarah J. Parker ◽  
...  

The extremely limited regenerative potential of adult mammalian hearts has prompted the need for novel cell-based therapies that can restore contractile function in heart disease. We have previously shown the regenerative potential of mixed fetal cells that were naturally found migrating to the injured maternal heart. Exploiting this intrinsic mechanism led to the current hypothesis that Caudal-type homeobox-2 (Cdx2) cells in placenta may represent a novel cell type for cardiac regeneration. Using a lineage-tracing strategy, we specifically labeled fetal-derived Cdx2 cells with enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP). Cdx2-eGFP cells from end-gestation placenta were assayed for cardiac differentiation in vitro and in vivo using a mouse model of myocardial infarction. We observed that these cells differentiated into spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes (CMs) and vascular cells in vitro, indicating multipotentiality. When administered via tail vein to infarcted wild-type male mice, they selectively and robustly homed to the heart and differentiated to CMs and blood vessels, resulting in significant improvement in contractility as noted by MRI. Proteomics and immune transcriptomics studies of Cdx2-eGFP cells compared with embryonic stem (ES) cells reveal that they appear to retain “stem”-related functions of ES cells but exhibit unique signatures supporting roles in homing and survival, with an ability to evade immune surveillance, which is critical for cell-based therapy. Cdx2-eGFP cells may potentially represent a therapeutic advance in allogeneic cell therapy for cardiac repair.


Blood ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 95 (7) ◽  
pp. 2275-2283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoki Nakayama ◽  
Jae Lee ◽  
Laura Chiu

Abstract The totipotent mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell is known to differentiate into cells expressing the β-globin gene when stimulated with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4. Here, we demonstrate that BMP-4 is essential for generating both erythro-myeloid colony-forming cells (CFCs) and lymphoid (B and NK) progenitor cells from ES cells and that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) synergizes with BMP-4. The CD45+ myelomonocytic progenitors and Ter119+ erythroid cells began to be detected with 0.5 ng/mL BMP-4, and their levels plateaued at approximately 2 ng/mL. VEGF alone weakly elevated the CD34+ cell population though no lymphohematopoietic progenitors were induced. However, when combined with BMP-4, 2 to 20 ng/mL VEGF synergistically augmented the BMP-4-dependent generation of erythro-myeloid CFCs and lymphoid progenitors from ES cells, which were enriched in CD34+ CD31lo and CD34+CD45− cell populations, respectively, in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, during the 7 days of in vitro differentiation, BMP-4 was required within the first 4 days, whereas VEGF was functional after the action of BMP-4 (in the last 3 days). Thus, VEGF is a synergistic enhancer for the BMP-4-dependent differentiation processes, and it seems to be achieved by the ordered action of the 2 factors.


2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 355
Author(s):  
S. Rungarunlert ◽  
K. Tar ◽  
S. Muenthaisong ◽  
M. Techakumphu ◽  
M. Pirity ◽  
...  

Cardiomyocytes derived from embryonic stem (ES) cells are anticipated to be valuable for cardiovascular drug testing and disease therapies. The overall efficiency and quantity of cardiomyocytes obtained by differentiation of ES cells is still low. To enable a large-scale culture of ES-derived cells, we have tested a scalable bioprocess that allows direct embryoid body (EB) formation in a fully controlled, bioreactor/STLV (slow turning lateral vessel, Synthecon, Inc., Houston, TX, USA) following inoculation with a single cell suspension of mouse ES cells. Technical parameters for optimal cell expansion and efficient ES cell differentiation were compared, such as ES cell seeding density (3 × 105 and 5 × 105 cells mL-1) into the bioreactor and day of transfer and plating of EB on gelatinated petri dishes (Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5). The quantity and quality of EB production including the yield and size of EB, as well as viability and apoptosis of cells, were analyzed. Furthermore, after cultivation, well-developed contracting EB with functional cardiac muscle were obtained in which the percentage of EB beating/well and several specific cardiac genes [cardiac Troponin T (cTnT) and α-actinin] expression were also determined. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM of at least 3 independent experiments. Statistical analyses included one-way ANOVA and Student’s t-test Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. The results showed that 5 × 105 ES cells mL-1 seeded into the STLV significantly improved the homogeneity of size of EB formed compared with 3 × 105 ES cells mL-1. The EB derived from Days 2 or 3 culturing in STLV had less necrotic cells than Days 4 and 5 groups. Furthermore, plating these EB on Days 2 and 3 resulted in significantly more EB beating/well than that of Days 4 and 5 groups. For cardiac differentiation, the group with 5 × 105 ES cells mL-1 seeded into STLV and transferred and plated on Day 3 expressed more cardiac markers than other groups. In conclusion, the optimized rotary suspension culture method can produce a highly uniform population of efficiently differentiating EB in large quantities in a manner that can be easily implemented by basic research laboratories. This method provides a technological platform for the controlled large-scale generation of ES cell-derived cells for clinical and industrial applications. This work was financed by The Thailand Commission on Higher Education (CHE-PhD-SW-2005-100), EUFP6 CLONET (MRTN-CT-2006-035468), NKFP_07_1-ES2HEART-HU (OM-00202-2007), and EUFP7 (PartnErS, PIAP-GA-2008-218205).


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 889-889
Author(s):  
ZacK Z. Wang ◽  
Hao Bai ◽  
Melanie Arzigian ◽  
Yong-Xing Gao ◽  
Wen-Shu Wu

Abstract Pluripotent stem cells derived from patients, including embryonic stem (ES) cells and “induced pluripotent stem” (iPS) cells, are a promising area of regenerative medical research. A major roadblock toward human clinical therapies using ES cells or iPS cells is to define the factors that direct ES cell differentiation into lineage specific cells. We previously established a simple and efficient human embryonic stem cell (hESC) differentiation system to generate CD34+/CD31+ progenitor cells that gave rise to hematopoietic and endothelial cells (Nat Biotech.25:317, 2007). To advance potential clinical application and to define the effects of growth factors on hematopoietic and vascular differentiation, we assessed hESC differentiation on human feeder cells in serum-free condition without intermediate embryoid body (EB) formation. We investigated the roles of BMPs, TGFbeta, VEGF, and FGF2 in directing hESC differentiation. Growth factors were added into culture at different time points to test their stage specific roles. Our study demonstrated that BMP proteins, including BMP2, BMP4, and BMP7, but not BMP9, had synergic effects to VEGF and FGF-2 on hESC differentiation to CD34+/CD31+ progenitor cells. BMP4 was essential to initial CD34+/CD31+ cell development, whereas VEGF and FGF2 promoted the differentiation in later stage, suggesting the sequential roles of BMP4, VEGF and FGF2 in directing hESC differentiation to CD34+/CD31+ progenitor cells. TGFbeta or activin promoted hESC differentiation into CD34+/CD31− cells that were unable to give rise to hematopoietic, endothelial, and smooth muscle cells. Furthermore, TGFbeta or activin activated Smad2/3 signaling, and suppressed BMP4-induced CD34+/CD31+ cells. Microarray analysis revealed that BMP4-induced CD34+ cells expressed hematopoietic, endothelial and smooth muscle genes, including GATA2, gamma globins, VE-Cad, KDR, CD31, Tie2, and aortic smooth muscle actin, whereas TGFbeta-induced CD34+ cells expressed pluripotent markers and endoderm markers, including Oct3/4, Sox2, and Nanog, HHEX, GATA6, and FoxA2. Both canonical BMP signaling (Smad1/5/8-dependent) and non-canonical BMP signaling (p38 MAPK and p42 ERK pathway) were activated by BMP4 in hESCs. Dorsomorphin specifically inhibited BMP4-mediated phosphorylation of Smad1/5/8, and blocked hESC differentiation into CD34+/CD31+ cells. In summary, BMPs and TGFbeta regulate distinct populations of CD34+ cells in hESCs. BMP-Smad1/5/8 pathway is critical for hematopoietic and vascular progenitor development.


Circulation ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 118 (suppl_18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingbo Yan ◽  
Jianyong Hu ◽  
Iris I Mueller ◽  
William H Heaton ◽  
Wan-Der Wang ◽  
...  

The molecular factors that regulate cardiac differentiation have been extensively studied, yet, relatively little is known about how cardiomyocytes acquire atrial versus ventricular characteristics. Embryonic stem (ES) cells, which have the potential to differentiate to a wide array of distinct cell types, including most types of cardiovascular cells, offer a pertinent in vitro model to work out the molecular mechanisms of atrial specification and differentiation. We discovered that the secreted antagonist of BMP signaling, Protein Related to Dan and Cerberus (PRDC, also called Gremlin2) leads to a surge in cardiomyocytic differentiation when applied to mouse ES-derived cardiac progenitor cells. This property is unique to PRDC among tested BMP antagonists. Lineage expansion is restricted to cardiomyocytes, with the differentiation of endodermal, blood, endothelial and neuronal cells being unaffected. Using molecular and electrophysiological analyses, we show that PRDC-induced cardiomyocytes acquire atrial characteristics. Consistent with the in vitro results, we found that injection of PRDC mRNA into the developing zebrafish embryo leads to supernumerary contracting areas. The ectopic cardiomyocytes express atrial-, but not ventricular- specific cardiac genes. We determined that PRDC treatment induces the expression of COUP-TFII, a known transcriptional regulator of atrial differentiation, but suppresses Notch signaling. Inhibition of Notch is sufficient to induce atrial-specific genes; however, blocking Notch does not expand the cardiogenic fields. Taken together, our data suggest that antagonism of BMP and Notch signaling by PRDC is a critical early step in the specification, expansion and differentiation of atrial progenitor cells. This information might be relevant for treating atrial degeneration, as well as for understanding the etiology of atrial fibrillation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 290 (1) ◽  
pp. F52-F60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makoto Yamamoto ◽  
Li Cui ◽  
Kohei Johkura ◽  
Kazuhiko Asanuma ◽  
Yasumitsu Okouchi ◽  
...  

Ureteric bud epithelial cells and metanephric mesenchymal cells that comprise the metanephric kidney primordium are capable of producing nephrons and collecting ducts through reciprocal inductive interaction. Once these cells are induced from pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells, they have the potential to become powerful tools in the regeneration of kidney tissues. In this study, we investigated these renal primordial cells and structures in mouse ES cell outgrowths and their transplants. Gene expression essential for early kidney development was examined by RT-PCR in embryoid body (EB) outgrowths and their transplants in adult mice. Histochemical detection of kidney primordial structures and gene expression analysis coupled with laser microdissection were performed in transplant tissues. RT-PCR analysis detected gene expression of Pax-2, Lim-1, c-Ret, Emx2, Sall1, WT-1, Eya-1, GDNF, and Wnt-4 in the EB outgrowths from days 6–9 of expansion onward, and also in the teratoma tissues 14 and 28 days after transplantation. Histochemical analysis 14 days after transplantation showed that some ducts were positive for Pax-2, endo A cytokeratin, kidney-specific cadherin, and Dolichos biflorus agglutinin and that dichotomous branching of these ducts had occurred. These staining patterns and morphological features are intrinsic for mesonephric ducts and ureteric buds. In long-term survival of 28 days, Pax-2-immunoreactivity disappeared in some renal primordia-like structures, indicating their differentiation. Some ducts were accompanied by mesonephric nephron-like convoluted tubules. RT-PCR analysis of those structures collected by microdissection confirmed that they expressed kidney development-related genes. In conclusion, these data suggest the potential of ES cells to produce renal primordial duct structures and provides an insight into the regeneration of kidney tissues.


2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 429-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitoshi Miyashita ◽  
Atsushi Suzuki ◽  
Katashi Fukao ◽  
Hiromitsu Nakauchi ◽  
Hideki Taniguchi

We confirmed hepatocyte differentiation from embryonic stem (ES) cells in vitro. RT-PCR analysis revealed that a broad range of hepatic gene expression was observed in ES cells differentiated through formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) and its attachment culture. Quantitative PCR analysis revealed that hepatic gene expression related to early and late-stage liver development were enhanced through in vitro differentiation of ES cells. The presence of albumin-producing cells in the peripheral region of attached EBs was confirmed by immunocytochemical analysis. Future experiments will reveal the molecules that induce hepatocyte differentiation from ES cells in vitro. This research will provide systems for the investigation of mechanisms in liver development and establish a method of ES cell-based therapy for liver diseases.


Blood ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 95 (7) ◽  
pp. 2275-2283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoki Nakayama ◽  
Jae Lee ◽  
Laura Chiu

The totipotent mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell is known to differentiate into cells expressing the β-globin gene when stimulated with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4. Here, we demonstrate that BMP-4 is essential for generating both erythro-myeloid colony-forming cells (CFCs) and lymphoid (B and NK) progenitor cells from ES cells and that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) synergizes with BMP-4. The CD45+ myelomonocytic progenitors and Ter119+ erythroid cells began to be detected with 0.5 ng/mL BMP-4, and their levels plateaued at approximately 2 ng/mL. VEGF alone weakly elevated the CD34+ cell population though no lymphohematopoietic progenitors were induced. However, when combined with BMP-4, 2 to 20 ng/mL VEGF synergistically augmented the BMP-4-dependent generation of erythro-myeloid CFCs and lymphoid progenitors from ES cells, which were enriched in CD34+ CD31lo and CD34+CD45− cell populations, respectively, in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, during the 7 days of in vitro differentiation, BMP-4 was required within the first 4 days, whereas VEGF was functional after the action of BMP-4 (in the last 3 days). Thus, VEGF is a synergistic enhancer for the BMP-4-dependent differentiation processes, and it seems to be achieved by the ordered action of the 2 factors.


Blood ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Li ◽  
Shijiang Lu ◽  
Loyda Vida ◽  
James A. Thomson ◽  
George R. Honig

A cell culture system consisting of mouse S17 stromal cells supplemented with cytokines was developed for hematopoietic differentiation of rhesus monkey embryonic stem (ES) cells. The differentiated colonies that formed contained clusters of hematopoietic-like cells, as well as structures similar in appearance to embryonic blood islands. When this culture system was supplemented with bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP-4), the numbers of primary hematopoietic clusters increased by an average of 15 fold. The primary hematopoietic clusters containing clonogenic precursors (expandable hematopoietic clusters) increased by 18 fold. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that a substantial percentage of the hematopoietic-like cells were CD34+, with morphologic features of undifferentiated blast cells. Enrichment of the CD34+ cells was associated with enhanced stromal-dependent, cytokine-driven formation of cobblestone colonies on secondary plating. The hematopoietic identity of the precursors was further indicated by their expression of genes associated with hematopoietic differentiation, as well as morphologic assessments that showed erythroid and myeloid lineages among the progeny cells. In addition, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction analysis of BMP-4–treated rhesus monkey ES cells demonstrated an up-regulation of early-expressed genes responsible for embryonic hematopoiesis and angiogenesis during the first 7 days of culture. These observations suggest that embryonic mesoderm regulatory protein may mimic physiologic signals that are required for the onset of embryonic hematopoiesis and stem cell formation in rhesus monkey ES cells.


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