Abstract
The use of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for modeling human diseases and therapeutic applications requires differentiation methods that generate physiologically relevant cell types in a robust and standardized way. Herein, we describe an efficient and scalable monolayer protocol to convert pluripotent stem cells into vascular endothelial cells using defined culture conditions.
The combinatorial use of small molecule compounds, growth factors as well as morphogens directs human pluripotent stem cells toward endothelial cells within 6 days. The protocol has the capacity to generate endothelial cells with high efficiencies of up to 80%. An additional immunomagnetic cell purification step that is based on the surface marker VE-cadherin results in a virtually pure population of endothelial cells. In a subsequent expansion step human PSC-derived endothelial cells can be further propagated, while maintaining their endothelial identity. Thus, our differentiation protocol enables the generation of hPSC-derived endothelial cells at a scale that is relevant for drug discovery campaigns or clinical applications.
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Acknowledgments
The research leading to these results has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement number 115439, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) and EFPIA companies’ in kind contribution. This publication reflects only the author’s views and neither the IMI JU nor EFPIA nor the European Commission are liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
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Christensen, K., Roudnicky, F., Burcin, M., Patsch, C. (2019). Monolayer Generation of Vascular Endothelial Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. In: Mandenius, CF., Ross, J. (eds) Cell-Based Assays Using iPSCs for Drug Development and Testing. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1994. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9477-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9477-9_2
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