Common Expression of Stemness Molecular Markers and Early Cardiac Transcription Factors in Human Wharton's Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Embryonic Stem Cells
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: At present, there are still significant barriers that impede the clinical use of hESCs and iPS cells, including ethics, immunorejection, tumorigenesis from hESCs, and teratoma formation from iPS cells. It is therefore necessary to search for alternative sources of stem cells. WJ-MSCs originate from embryonic epiblasts and possess properties intermediate between hESCs and adult stem cells. However, the stemness properties of molecules in WJ-MSCs remain unclear compared to those of hESCs. In the present study, we isolated WJ-MSCs by a nonenzymatic method. Further, using microarray analysis by Affymetrix GeneChip and functional network analyses, we determined the degree of expression of stemness genes exhibited by the Human Stem Cell Pluripotency array. We also defined a wide range of stem cell gene expression in the WJ-MSCs in comparison with hESCs. At the same time, the definitive markers of early cardiac precursor cells and more committed progenitors were further characterized in WJ-MSCs. Our results demonstrated for the first time that WJ-MSCs had significant expression of undifferentiated human embryonic stem cell core markers, such as SOX2, NANOG, LIN28, SSEA1, SSEA3, SSEA4, KLF4, c-MYC, CRIPTO, and REX1, with a relatively lower level of expression than in hESCs. We also found WJ-MSCs have high expression of early cardiac transcription factors, such as Flk-1, Isl-1, and Nkx2.5. Functional analysis revealed signature genes of WJ-MSCs with specific roles involved in immune, cytoskeletal, and chemokine regulation, cell adhesion, and cell signaling. Our study indicated that there is a significant overlap between the stemness genes expressed by hESCs and WJ-MSCs. WJ-MSCs harbor a true stem cell population and are promising cells for stem cell-based therapies.
Source: Cell Transplantation
Authors: Lian Ru Gao, Ning K. Zhang, Qing A. Ding, Hai Y. Chen, Xiang Hu, Shu Jiang, Tian C. Li, Yu Chen, Zhi G. Wang, Yang Ye, Zhi Ming Zhu
Institutions: PLA Navy General Hospital, Beike Biotechnology (China)
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2051451291