The cost of publication in Journal of Biomedical Science is borne by the National Science Council, Taiwan.
Research
Overexpression of hTERT increases stem-like properties and decreases spontaneous differentiation in human mesenchymal stem cell lines
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* Corresponding authors: Lein-Tuan Hou lthou@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw - Shih-Chieh Hung hungsc@vghtpe.gov.tw
- † Equal contributors
1 Stem Cell Laboratory, Department of Medical Research & Education and Orthopaedics & Traumatology, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
2 Graduate Institute of Dental Sciences and Department of Periodontology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
3 Graduate Institute of Medical Engineering & Department of Orthopedics, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
4 Institute of Clinical Medicine & Department and Institute of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
5 Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Journal of Biomedical Science 2010, 17:64 doi:10.1186/1423-0127-17-64
Published: 29 July 2010Abstract
To overcome loss of stem-like properties and spontaneous differentiation those hinder the expansion and application of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), we have clonally isolated permanent and stable human MSC lines by ectopic overexpression of primary cell cultures of hMSCs with HPV 16 E6E7 and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) genes. These cells were found to have a differentiation potential far beyond the ordinary hMSCs. They expressed trophoectoderm and germline specific markers upon differentiation with BMP4 and retinoic acid, respectively. Furthermore, they displayed higher osteogenic and neural differentiation efficiency than primary hMSCs or hMSCs expressed HPV16 E6E7 alone with a decrease in methylation level as proven by a global CpG island methylation profile analysis. Notably, the demethylated CpG islands were highly associated with development and differentiation associated genes. Principal component analysis further pointed out the expression profile of the cells converged toward embryonic stem cells. These data demonstrate these cells not only are a useful tool for the studies of cell differentiation both for the mesenchymal and neurogenic lineages, but also provide a valuable source of cells for cell therapy studies in animal models of skeletal and neurological disorders.