摘要
The generation of induced tissue-specific stem cells has been hampered by the lack of well-established methods for the maintenance of pure tissue-specific stem cells like the ones we have for embryonic stem （ES） cell cultures. Using a cocktail of cytokines and small molecules, we dem- onstrate that primitive neural stem （NS） cells derived from mouse ES cells and rat embryos can be maintained. Furthermore, using the same set of cytokines and small molecules, we show that induced NS （iNS） cells can be generated from rat fibroblasts by forced expression of the transcrip- tional factors Oct4, Sox2 and c-Myc. The generation and long-term maintenance of iNS cells could have wide and momentous implications.
The generation of induced tissue-specific stem cells has been hampered by the lack of well-established methods for the maintenance of pure tissue-specific stem cells like the ones we have for embryonic stem （ES） cell cultures. Using a cocktail of cytokines and small molecules, we dem- onstrate that primitive neural stem （NS） cells derived from mouse ES cells and rat embryos can be maintained. Furthermore, using the same set of cytokines and small molecules, we show that induced NS （iNS） cells can be generated from rat fibroblasts by forced expression of the transcrip- tional factors Oct4, Sox2 and c-Myc. The generation and long-term maintenance of iNS cells could have wide and momentous implications.
基金
supported by USC startup fund to QLY and in part by NIH(Grant No.R01OD010926) to QLY
