This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Data Supplement All Versions of this Article: 29/7/1100    most recent ATVBAHA.108.182162v1 Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Google Scholar Articles by Taura, D. Articles by Nakao, K. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Taura, D. Articles by Nakao, K.

(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2009;29:1100.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cell Biology/Signaling

Induction and Isolation of Vascular Cells From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells—Brief Report

Daisuke Taura; Masakatsu Sone; Koichiro Homma; Naofumi Oyamada; Kazutoshi Takahashi; Naohisa Tamura; Shinya Yamanaka; Kazuwa Nakao

From the Department of Medicine and Clinical Science (D.T., M.S., K.H., N.O., N.T., K.N.), Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine; the Department of Stem Cell Biology (K.T., S.Y.), Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University; and the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) (K.T., S.Y.), Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University, Japan.

Correspondence to Masakatsu Sone, MD, PhD, 54 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. E-mail sonemasa{at}kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Objective— Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are a novel stem cell population derived from human adult somatic cells through reprogramming using a defined set of transcription factors. Our aim was to determine the features of the directed differentiation of human iPS cells into vascular endothelial cells (ECs) and mural cells (MCs), and to compare that process with human embryonic stem (hES) cells.

Methods and Results— We previously established a system for differentiating hES cells into vascular cells. We applied this system to human iPS cells and examined their directed differentiation. After differentiation, TRA1–60^– Flk1⁺ cells emerged and divided into VE-cadherin-positive and -negative populations. The former were also positive for CD34, CD31, and eNOS and were consistent with ECs. The latter differentiated into MCs, which expressed smooth muscle -actin and calponin after further differentiation. The efficiency of the differentiation was comparable to that of human ES cells.

Conclusions— We succeeded in inducing and isolating human vascular cells from iPS cells and indicate that the properties of human iPS cell differentiation into vascular cells are nearly identical to those of hES cells. This work will contribute to our understanding of human vascular differentiation/development and to the development of vascular regenerative medicine.

We induced vascular endothelial and mural cells from human iPS cells and demonstrated that the properties of human iPS cell differentiation are nearly identical to those of hES cells.

Key Words: angiogenesis • stem cells • vascular biology • endothelium • differentiation