Efficient derivation of mesenchymal stem cells and neural precursor cells from human embryonic stem cells through teratoma formation

Abstract

Many somatic cell types were obtained by in vitro differentiation or teratoma formation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). However, it is unclear whether specific cell types can be obtained from hESCs-derived teratoma. It was reported that many kinds of cells, including neural progenitor/precursor cells (NPCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were isolated efficiently from the teratoma of hESCs through in vitro selection. The teratoma-derived NPCs and MSCs showed specific characteristics of molecular markers similar to the primary NPCs and MSCs. Moreover, these teratoma-induced NPCs and MSCs can be further induced to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, or adipose and bone cells, reflecting their inherent multi-potencies. Given that teratoma normally contains a mixture of ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm lineage cells at different differentiation stage, it was suggested that hESCs-derived teratoma could be an alternative source to generate a variety of uncommitted progenitor cells or terminally differentiated somatic cells, which may be otherwise difficult to obtain through direct in vitro differentiation.