Enhanced hepatogenic transdifferentiation of human adipose tissue mesenchymal stem cells by gene engineering with Oct4 and Sox2.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 25815812.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0108874 and PMC identifier 4376765.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Adipose tissue mesenchymal stem cells (ATMSCs) represent an attractive tool for the establishment of a successful stem cell-based therapy in the field of liver regeneration medicine. ATMSCs overexpressing Oct4 and Sox2 (Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs) showed enhanced proliferation and multipotency. Hence, we hypothesized that Oct4 and Sox2 can increase "transdifferentiation" of ATMSCs into cells of the hepatic lineage. In this study, we generated Oct4- and Sox2-overexpressing human ATMSCs by liposomal transfection. We confirmed the expression of mesenchymal stem cell surface markers without morphological alterations in both red-fluorescent protein (RFP) (control)- and Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs by flow cytometry. After induction of differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells, the morphology of ATMSCs changed and they began to appear as round or polygonal epithelioid cells. Hepatic markers were evaluated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and confirmed by immunofluorescence. The results showed that albumin was strongly expressed in hepatogenic differentiated Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs, whereas the expression level of α-fetoprotein was lower than that of RFP-ATMSCs. The functionality of hepatocytes was evaluated by periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining and urea assays. The number of PAS-positive cells was significantly higher and urea production was significantly higher in Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs compared to that in RFP-ATMSCs. Taken together, the hepatocyte-like cells derived from Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs were mature hepatocytes, possibly functional hepatocytes with enhanced capacity to store glycogen and produce urea. In this study, we demonstrated the enhanced transdifferentiation of Oct4- and Sox2-overexpressing ATMSCs into hepatocyte-like cells that have enhanced hepatocyte-specific functions. Therefore, we expect that Oct4/Sox2-ATMSCs may become a very useful source for hepatocyte regeneration or liver cell transplantation.
Medical subject headings
- Adipose Tissue
- Cell Engineering
- Cell Transdifferentiation
- Hepatocytes
- Mesenchymal Stem Cells
- Octamer Transcription Factor-3
- SOXB1 Transcription Factors