Inhibition of stearoyl-coA desaturase selectively eliminates tumorigenic Nanog-positive cells: Improving the safety of iPS cell transplantation to myocardium

Lan Zhang, Yaohua Pan, Gangjian Qin, Lijuan Chen, Tapan K. Chatterjee, Neal L. Weintraub, Yaoliang Tang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) can differentiate into cardiomyocytes (CM) and represent a promising form of cellular therapy for heart regeneration. However, residual undifferentiated iPS derivates (iPSD), which are not fully eliminated by cell differentiation or purification protocols, may form tumors after transplantation, thus compromising therapeutic application. Inhibition of stearoyl-coA desaturase (SCD) has recently been reported to eliminate undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells, which share many features with iPSD. Here, we tested the effects of PluriSin#1, a smallmolecule inhibitor of SCD, on iPS-derived CM. We found that plurisin#1 treatment significantly decreased the mRNA and protein level of Nanog, a marker for both cell pluripotency and tumor progression; importantly, we provide evidence that PluriSin#1 treatment at 20 μM for 1 day significantly induces the apoptosis of Nanog-positive iPSD. In addition, PluriSin#1 treatment at 20 μM for 4 days diminished Nanog-positive stem cells in cultured iPSD while not increasing apoptosis of iPS-derived CM. To investigate whether PluriSin#1 treatment prevents tumorigenicity of iPSD after cell transplantation, we intramyocardially injected PluriSin#1- or DMSO-treated iPSD in a mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI). DMSO-treated iPSD readily formed Nanog-expressing tumors 2 weeks after injection, which was prevented by treatment with PluriSin#1. Moreover, treatment with PluriSin#1 did not change the expression of cTnI, α-MHC, or MLC-2v, markers of cardiac differentiation (P > 0.05, n = 4). Importantly, pluriSin#1-treated iPS-derived CM exhibited the ability to engraft and survive in the infarcted myocardium. We conclude that inhibition of SCD holds the potential to enhance the safety of therapeutic application of iPS cells for heart regeneration.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)762-771
Number of pages10
JournalCell Cycle
Volume13
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2014

Keywords

  • Myocardial infarction
  • Nanog
  • PluriSin#1
  • Tumorigenicity
  • iPS

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology

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