人胚胎干细胞来源的成纤维细胞支持无动物源污染条件下的人精原干细胞生长

Xeno-free culture of human spermatogonial stem cells supported by human embryonic stem cell-derived fibroblast-like cells

精原干细胞在人出生后可以连续分裂以支持精子形成，将遗传信息传递给下一代。在本文中，我们成功地从睾丸组织中分离并鉴别人精原干细胞的一种新方法，并在人胚胎干细胞来源的成纤维细胞上扩增人精原干细胞。在这种人胚胎干细胞来源的成纤维细胞上可维持大量的人精原干细胞并且在组合生长因子，特别是胶质细胞来源的神经生长因子存在的条件下扩增至少2个月。细胞表面标志分析显示这些精原干细胞具有高水平的碱性磷酸酶的表达并保持了高水平的胚胎特异阶段抗原SSEA-1，OCT4和CD49f的表达。用逆转录PCR反应检测出OCT4，SOX3，STRA8基因的表达。这些数据清晰地表明运用人胚胎干细胞来源的成纤维细胞来支持人精原干细胞的一个新的策略，并排除了异源物种的污染。这个系统提供了新的机会去了解干细胞巢对于控制精原干细胞自我更新的调节机制，并将对于精原干细胞潜在的临床应用提供有用的精原干细胞。

Spermatogonial stem cells （SSCs） divide continuously to support spermatogenesis throughout postnatal life and transmit genetic information to the next generation. Here, we report the successful establishment of the method for the isolation and identification of human SSCs from testicular tissue, and to determine the culture conditions required to expand SSCs on human embryonic stem cell-derived fibroblast-like cells （hdFs）. Large-scale cultures of SSCs were maintained on hdF feeder layers and expanded in the presence of a combination of cytokines and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor for at least 2 months. Cell surface marker analysis showed that SSCs retained high levels of alkaline phosphatase activity and stained strongly for anti-stage-specific embryonic antigen （SSEA）-1, OCT4 and CD49f. They also expressed the genes OCT4, SOX3 and STRA8 as detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR） analysis. These data clearly illustrate a novel approach for the growth of human SSCs using hdFs as feeder cells, potentially eliminating xenogeneic contaminants. This system provides a new opportunity for the study of the regulatory mechanism of the ‘niche＇ that governs SSC self-renewal, and will be a valuable source of SSCs for potential clinical applications.