Partial Somatic to Stem Cell Transformations Induced By Cell-Permeable Reprogramming Factors
Authors
Junghee Lim, Junghee Kim, Jinsun Kang & Daewoong Jo
Institution
Vanderbuilt Uni
Country
United States
Year
2014
Journal
Scientific Reports
Abstract
The production of pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for therapeutic applications will require practical methods
to achieve tight temporal and quantitative control of reprogramming factor (RF) expression, while avoiding
the mutagenic potential of gene transfer. Toward this end, we have developed cell-permeable RF proteins
(CP-RFs) incorporating newly developed macromolecule transduction domains (MTDs). Treatment of
human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) with combinations of cell-permeable OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, CMYC and
either NANOG or LIN28 proteins induced the outgrowth of stem cell-like colonies (iSCs). iSC colonies
generated with CP-RFs resembled embryonic stem cells with regard to morphology, biomarker expression,
and extended capacity for self-renewal, but failed to expand as iPSC or ES cell lines. Partial reprogramming
appears to be a common response to protein-based delivery of programming factors into somatic cells.