Characterization of two human induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from Batten disease patient fibroblasts harbouring CLN5 mutations.

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) are a group of common inherited neurodegenerative disorders of childhood. All forms of NCLs are life-limiting with no curative treatments. Most of the 13 NCL genes encode proteins residing in endolysosomal pathways, such as CLN5, a potential lysosomal enzyme. Two induced pluripotent stem cell lines (hiPSCs) were generated from skin fibroblasts of CLN5 disease patients via non-integrating Sendai virus reprogramming. They demonstrate typical stem cell morphology, express pluripotency markers, exhibit trilineage differentiation potential and also successfully differentiate into neurons. These hiPSCs represent a potential resource to model CLN5 disease in a human context and investigate potential therapies.

The ultrastructural organization of endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane contacts is conserved in epithelial cells.

Contacts between the endoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane (ER-PM contacts) have important roles in membrane lipid and calcium dynamics, yet their organization in polarized epithelial cells has not been thoroughly described. Here we examine ER-PM contacts in hepatocytes in mouse liver using electron microscopy, providing the first comprehensive ultrastructural study of ER-PM contacts in a mammalian epithelial tissue. Our quantitative analyses reveal strikingly distinct ER-PM contact architectures spatially linked to apical, lateral, and basal PM domains. Notably, we find that an extensive network of ER-PM contacts exists at lateral PM domains that form intercellular junctions between hepatocytes. Moreover, the spatial organization of ER-PM contacts is conserved in epithelial spheroids, suggesting that ER-PM contacts may serve conserved roles in epithelial cell architecture. Consistent with this notion, we show that ORP5 activity at ER-PM contacts modulates the apical-basolateral aspect ratio in HepG2 cells. Thus ER-PM contacts have a conserved distribution and crucial roles in PM domain architecture across epithelial cell types.

An In Vitro Whole-Organ Liver Engineering for Testing of Genetic Therapies.

Explosion of gene therapy approaches for treating rare monogenic and common liver disorders created an urgent need for disease models able to replicate human liver cellular environment. Available models lack 3D liver structure or are unable to survive in long-term culture. We aimed to generate and test a 3D culture system that allows long-term maintenance of human liver cell characteristics. The in vitro whole-organ "Bioreactor grown Artificial Liver Model" (BALM) employs a custom-designed bioreactor for long-term 3D culture of human induced pluripotent stem cells-derived hepatocyte-like cells (hiHEPs) in a mouse decellularized liver scaffold. Adeno-associated viral (AAV) and lentiviral (LV) vectors were introduced by intravascular injection. Substantial AAV and LV transgene expression in the BALM-grown hiHEPs was detected. Measurement of secreted proteins in the media allowed non-invasive monitoring of the system. We demonstrated that humanized whole-organ BALM is a valuable tool to generate pre-clinical data for investigational medicinal products.

Measurement of Bile Acids as a Marker of the Functionality of iPSC-Derived Hepatocytes.

During the process of differentiation from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to hepatocyte-like cells it is crucial to monitor the functionality of cells, in order to avoid an overestimation of the level of maturation. To this end, we propose bile acid profiling as a novel approach which is useful in determining the maturation of hepatocyte-like cells. The main advantages of the method are the simplicity and rapidity of test (i.e., single-step sample preparation followed by 3.5-min analysis), as well as the possibility to localize possible enzyme deficiencies by quantifying the accumulation of specific intermediates involved in the synthetic pathways.

Mass Spectrometry Measurement of Albumin-Alpha Fetoprotein Ratio as an Indicator of iPSC-Derived Hepatocyte Differentiation.

During the process of differentiation from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to hepatocytes it is crucial to monitor the levels of cellular maturation. We present a new method to evaluate the stage of differentiation based on the monitoring of the ratio between two plasma proteins typically secreted by hepatocytes, that is, albumin and alpha-fetoprotein. This ratio is particularly useful for the direct comparison of cells grown in different conditions, avoiding typical processes of standardization for the cell number (i.e., variation of cell quantity due to the use of different seeding densities and different growth vessels/supports or difficulties in establishing the effective cell viability due to the use of bioreactors or other 3D devices). Our analysis is performed via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry which allows a precise, selective, and reproducible quantitation of low-abundance proteins.

Argininosuccinic aciduria fosters neuronal nitrosative stress reversed by Asl gene transfer.

Argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) belongs to the hepatic urea cycle detoxifying ammonia, and the citrulline-nitric oxide (NO) cycle producing NO. ASL-deficient patients present argininosuccinic aciduria characterised by hyperammonaemia, multiorgan disease and neurocognitive impairment despite treatment aiming to normalise ammonaemia without considering NO imbalance. Here we show that cerebral disease in argininosuccinic aciduria involves neuronal oxidative/nitrosative stress independent of hyperammonaemia. Intravenous injection of AAV8 vector into adult or neonatal ASL-deficient mice demonstrates long-term correction of the hepatic urea cycle and the cerebral citrulline-NO cycle, respectively. Cerebral disease persists if ammonaemia only is normalised but is dramatically reduced after correction of both ammonaemia and neuronal ASL activity. This correlates with behavioural improvement and reduced cortical cell death. Thus, neuronal oxidative/nitrosative stress is a distinct pathophysiological mechanism from hyperammonaemia. Disease amelioration by simultaneous brain and liver gene transfer with one vector, to treat both metabolic pathways, provides new hope for hepatocerebral metabolic diseases.

A single cell high content assay detects mitochondrial dysfunction in iPSC-derived neurons with mutations in SNCA.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease (PD). Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide a unique cell model for studying neurological diseases. We have established a high-content assay that can simultaneously measure mitochondrial function, morphology and cell viability in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons. iPSCs from PD patients with mutations in SNCA and unaffected controls were differentiated into dopaminergic neurons, seeded in 384-well plates and stained with the mitochondrial membrane potential dependent dye TMRM, alongside Hoechst-33342 and Calcein-AM. Images were acquired using an automated confocal screening microscope and single cells were analysed using automated image analysis software. PD neurons displayed reduced mitochondrial membrane potential and altered mitochondrial morphology compared to control neurons. This assay demonstrates that high content screening techniques can be applied to the analysis of mitochondria in iPSC-derived neurons. This technique could form part of a drug discovery platform to test potential new therapeutics for PD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Mouse decellularised liver scaffold improves human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells.

Liver transplantation is the definitive treatment of liver failure but donor organ shortage limits its availability. Stem cells are highly expandable and have the potential to differentiate into any specialist cell. Use of patient-derived induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs) has the additional advantage for organ regeneration therapies by removing the need for immunosuppression. We compared hepatocyte differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and hiPSCs in a mouse decellularised liver scaffold (3D) with standard in vitro protocol (2D). Mouse livers were decellularised preserving micro-architecture, blood vessel network and extracellular matrix. hESCs and hiPSCs were primed towards the definitive endoderm. Cells were then seeded either in 3D or 2D cultures and the hepatocyte differentiation was continued. Both hESCs and hiPSCs differentiated more efficiently in 3D than in 2D, with higher and earlier expression of mature hepatocyte marker albumin, lipid and glycogen synthesis associated with a decrease in expression of fetal hepatocyte marker alpha-fetoprotein. Thus we conclude that stem cell hepatocyte differentiation in 3D culture promotes faster cell maturation. This finding suggests that optimised 3D protocols could allow generation of mature liver cells not achieved so far in standard 2D conditions and lead to improvement in cell models of liver disease and regenerative medicine applications.

B-Myb is critical for proper DNA duplication during an unperturbed S phase in mouse embryonic stem cells.

A common feature of early embryo cells from the inner cell mass (ICM) and of ESCs is an absolute dependence on an atypical cell cycle in which the G1 phase is shortened to preserve their self-renewing and pluripotent nature. The transcription factor B-Myb has been attributed a role in proliferation, in particular during the G2/M phases of the cell cycle. Intriguingly, B-Myb levels in ICM/ESCs are greater than 100 times compared with those in normal proliferating cells, suggesting a particularly important function for this transcription factor in pluripotent stem cells. B-Myb is essential for embryo development beyond the preimplantation stage, but its role in ICM/ESCs remains unclear. Using a combination of mouse genetics, single DNA fiber analyses and high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) imaging, we demonstrate that B-Myb has no influence on the expression of pluripotency factors, but instead B-Myb ablation leads to stalling of replication forks and superactivation of replication factories that result in disorganization of the replication program and an increase in double-strand breaks. These effects are partly due to aberrant transcriptional regulation of cell cycle proliferation factors, namely c-Myc and FoxM1, which dictate normal S phase progression. We conclude that B-Myb acts crucially during the S phase in ESCs by facilitating proper progression of replication, thereby protecting the cells from genomic damage. Our findings have particular relevance in the light of the potential therapeutic application of ESCs and the need to maintain their genomic integrity.

Reduced c-Myb activity compromises HSCs and leads to a myeloproliferation with a novel stem cell basis.

Murine haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are contained in the Kit+Sca1+Lin(-) (KSL) population of bone marrow and are able to repopulate lethally irradiated mice. Myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs) are thought to be clonogenic diseases arising at the level of the HSC. Here, we show that mice expressing low levels of the transcription factor c-Myb, as the result of genetic knockdown, develop a transplantable myeloproliferative phenotype that closely resembles the human disease essential thrombocythaemia (ET). Unlike wild-type cells, the KSL population in c-myb knockdown bone marrow cannot repopulate irradiated mice and does not transfer the disease. Instead, cells positive for Kit and expressing low to medium levels of CD11b acquire self-renewing stem cell properties and are responsible for the perpetuation of the myeloproliferative phenotype.