美国德克萨斯大学西南医学中心Jun Wu研究小组培育出能够分化为原始生殖细胞的中间态多能干细胞。这一研究成果于2020年12月2日在线发表在《细胞—干细胞》上。

研究人员表示，动态多能干细胞（PSC）状态是体内多能态的体外适应。先前的研究已经产生了许多具有不同性质的PSC。然而，迄今为止，尚无已知的PSC显示出嵌合体形成的双重能力和向原始生殖细胞（PGC）分化的直接响应（形成性多能性的独特功能）。

通过调节成纤维细胞生长因子（FGF）、转化生长因子β（TGF-β）和WNT途径，研究人员从小鼠、马和人类中产生了PSC（称为XPSC），这些PSC可以在体外直接诱导为类似PGC的细胞，并且能够在体内促成种内或种间嵌合体。XPSC是介于初始和活化多能性之间的状态，并具有形成性多能性的特征性分子、细胞和表型特征。XPSC为研究哺乳动物的多能性和剖析调控PGC分化的分子机制开辟了新途径。这个方法可能广泛适用于从其他哺乳动物物种衍生出类似的干细胞。

附：英文原文

Title: Derivation of Intermediate Pluripotent Stem Cells Amenable to Primordial Germ Cell Specification

Author: Leqian Yu, Yulei Wei, Hai-Xi Sun, Ahmed K. Mahdi, Carlos A. Pinzon Arteaga, Masahiro Sakurai, Daniel A. Schmitz, Canbin Zheng, Emily D. Ballard, Jie Li, Noriko Tanaka, Aoi Kohara, Daiji Okamura, Adrian A. Mutto, Ying Gu, Pablo J. Ross, Jun Wu

Issue&Volume: 2020-12-02

Abstract: Dynamic pluripotent stem cell (PSC) states are in vitro adaptations of pluripotency continuum in vivo. Previous studies have generated a number of PSCs with distinct properties. To date,however, no known PSCs have demonstrated dual competency for chimera formation anddirect responsiveness to primordial germ cell (PGC) specification, a unique functionalfeature of formative pluripotency. Here, by modulating fibroblast growth factor (FGF),transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), and WNT pathways, we derived PSCs from mice,horses, and humans (designated as XPSCs) that are permissive for direct PGC-like cellinduction in vitro and are capable of contributing to intra- or inter-species chimeras in vivo. XPSCs represent a pluripotency state between naive and primed pluripotency and harbormolecular, cellular, and phenotypic features characteristic of formative pluripotency.XPSCs open new avenues for studying mammalian pluripotency and dissecting the molecularmechanisms governing PGC specification. Our method may be broadly applicable for thederivation of analogous stem cells from other mammalian species.

DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2020.11.003

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(20)30541-5