Direct Reprogramming of Human Primordial Germ Cells into Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Efficient Generation of Genetically Engineered Germ Cells.

ABSTRACT: Primordial germ cells (PGCs) share many properties with embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and innately express several key pluripotency-controlling factors, including OCT4, NANOG, and LIN28. Therefore, PGCs may provide a simple and efficient model for studying somatic cell reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), especially in determining the regulatory mechanisms that fundamentally define pluripotency. Here, we report a novel model of PGC reprogramming to generate iPSCs via transfection with SOX2 and OCT4 using integrative lentiviral. We also show the feasibility of using nonintegrative approaches for generating iPSC from PGCs using only these two factors. We show that human PGCs express endogenous levels of KLF4 and C-MYC protein at levels similar to embryonic germ cells (EGCs)

SUBMITTER: Bazley FA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4652187 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature