Establishment of induced pluripotent stem cells from aged mice using bone marrow-derived myeloid cells

J Mol Cell Biol. 2011 Apr;3(2):91-8. doi: 10.1093/jmcb/mjq044. Epub 2011 Jan 12.

Abstract

If induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are to be used to treat damaged tissues or repair organs in elderly patients, it will be necessary to establish iPS cells from their tissues. To determine the feasibility of using this technology with elderly patients, we asked if it was indeed possible to establish iPS cells from the bone marrow (BM) of aged mice. BM cells from aged C57BL/6 mice carrying the green fluorescence protein (GFP) gene were cultured with granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for 4 days. Four factors (Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc) were introduced into the BM-derived myeloid (BM-M) cells. The efficiency of generating iPS cells from aged BM cultured in GM-CSF was low. However, we succeeded in obtaining BM-M-iPS cells from aged C57BL/6 mice, which carried GFP. Our BM-M-iPS cells expressed SSEA-1 and Pou5f1 and were positive for alkaline phosphatase staining. The iPS cells did make teratoma with three germ layers following injection into syngeneic C57BL/6 mice, and can be differentiated to three germ layers in vitro. By co-culturing with OP9, the BM-M-iPS cells can be differentiated to the myeloid lineage. The differentiated BM-M-iPS cells proliferated well in the presence of GM-CSF, and lost expression of Nanog and Pou5f1, at least in part, due to methylation of their promoters. On the contrary, Tnf and Il1b gene expression was upregulated and their promoters were hypomethylated.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bone Marrow Cells / cytology*
  • Bone Marrow Cells / metabolism
  • Cell Differentiation*
  • Cell Lineage
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Culture Techniques
  • Female
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / metabolism
  • Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Kruppel-Like Factor 4
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Myeloid Cells / cytology*
  • Myeloid Cells / metabolism
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Klf4 protein, mouse
  • Kruppel-Like Factor 4
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor