Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have promising therapeutic applications due to their infinite capacity for self-renewal and pluripotency. Genomic stability is imperative for the clinical use of hPSCs; however, copy number variation (CNV), especially recurrent CNV at 20q11.21, may contribute genomic instability of hPSCs. Furthermore, the effects of CNVs in hPSCs at the whole-transcriptome scale are poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the functional in vivo and in vitro effects of frequently detected CNVs at 20q11.21 during early-stage differentiation of hPSCs. Comprehensive transcriptome profiling of abnormal hPSCs revealed that the differential gene expression patterns had a negative effect on differentiation potential. Transcriptional heterogeneity identified by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of embryoid bodies from two different isogenic lines of hPSCs revealed alterations in differentiated cell distributions compared with that of normal cells. RNA-seq analysis of 22 teratomas identified several differentially expressed lineage-specific markers in hPSCs with CNVs, consistent with the histological results of the altered ecto/meso/endodermal ratio due to CNVs. Our results suggest that CNV amplification contributes to cell proliferation, apoptosis, and cell fate specification. This work shows the functional consequences of recurrent genetic abnormalities and thereby provides evidence to support the development of cell-based applications.

Antiangiogenic agents have been widely investigated in combination with standard chemotherapy or targeted cancer agents for better management of advanced cancers. Therapeutic agents that concurrently inhibit epidermal growth factor receptor and other angiokinases could be useful alternatives to combination therapies for epidermal growth factor receptor-dependent cancers. Here, we report the synthesis of an indole derivative of pazopanib using a bioisosteric replacement strategy, which was designated MKP101. MKP101 inhibited not only the epidermal growth factor receptor with an IC50 value of 43 nM but also inhibited angiokinases as potently as pazopanib. In addition, MKP101 effectively inhibited vascular endothelial growth factor-induced endothelial proliferation, tube formation, migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells and proliferation of HCC827, an epidermal growth factor receptor-addicted cancer cell line. A docking model of MKP101 and the kinase domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor was generated to predict its binding mode, and validated by synthesizing and evaluating MKP101 derivatives. Additionally, a study of structure-activity relationships of indolylamino or indolyloxy pyrimidine analogues derived from MKP101 demonstrated that selectivity for epidermal growth factor receptor and other angiokinases, especially vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 depends on the position of substituents on pyrimidine and the type of link between pyrimidine and the indole moiety. We believe that this study could provide a basis for developing angiokinase inhibitors having high affinity for the epidermal growth factor receptor, from the pyrimidine scaffold.

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