Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Human Hair Follicle Mesenchymal Stem Cells

• DOI: 10.1007/s12015-012-9420-5
• Publication Date: 2012-12-15T06:26:21Z
• Authors: Yimei Wang; Jinyu Liu; Xiaohua Tan; Gaofeng Li; Yunhe Gao; Xuejuan Liu; Lihong Zhang; Yulin Li
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Cancer Research; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; Cell Culture Techniques; Teratoma; Mesenchymal Stem Cells; Cell Biology; Cell Separation; Article; Colony-Forming Units Assay; Kruppel-Like Factor 4; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Gene Expression Regulation; Animals; Humans; Cell Shape; Hair Follicle; Biomarkers; Developmental Biology; Cell Proliferation

Reprogramming of somatic cells into inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides an alternative to using embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Mesenchymal stem cells derived from human hair follicles (hHF-MSCs) are easily accessible, reproducible by direct plucking of human hairs. Whether these hHF-MSCs can be reprogrammed has not been previously reported. Here we report the generation of iPSCs from hHF-MSCs obtained by plucking several hairs. hHF-MSCs were isolated from hair follicle tissues and their mesenchymal nature confirmed by detecting cell surface antigens and multilineage differentiation potential towards adipocytes and osteoblasts. They were then reprogrammed into iPSCs by lentiviral transduction with Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc and Klf4. hHF-MSC-derived iPSCs appeared indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in colony morphology, expression of alkaline phosphotase, and expression of specific hESCs surface markers, SSEA-3, SSEA-4, Tra-1-60, Tra-1-81, Nanog, Oct4, E-Cadherin and endogenous pluripotent genes. When injected into immunocompromised mice, hHF-MSC-derived iPSCs formed teratomas containing representatives of all three germ layers. This is the first study to report reprogramming of hHF-MSCs into iPSCs.