A rapid and stable spontaneous reprogramming system of Spermatogonial stem cells to Pluripotent State

Abstract

Background The scarcity of pluripotent stem cells poses a major challenge to the clinical application, given ethical and biosafety considerations. While germline stem cells commit to gamete differentiation throughout life, studies demonstrated the spontaneous acquisition of pluripotency by spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) from neonatal testes at a low frequency (1 in 1.5 × 107). Notably, this process occurs without exogenous oncogenes or chemical supplementation. However, while knockout of the p53 gene accelerates the transformation of SSCs, it also increases risk and hampers their clinical use. Results We report a transformation system that efficiently and stably convert SSCs into pluripotent stem cells around 10 passages with the morphology similar to that of epiblast stem cells, which convert to embryonic stem (ES) cell-like colonies after change with ES medium. Epidermal growth factor (EGF), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and fresh mouse embryonic fibroblast feeder (MEF) are essential for transformation, and addition of 2i (CHIR99021 and PD0325901) further enhanced the pluripotency. Transcriptome analysis revealed that EGF activated the RAS signaling pathway and inhibited p38 to initiate transformation, and synergically cooperated with LIF to promote the transformation. Conclusion This system established an efficient and safe resource of pluripotent cells from autologous germline, and provide new avenues for regenerative medicine and animal cloning.

Unraveling the Significance of Nanog in the Generation of Embryonic Stem-like Cells from Spermatogonia Stem Cells: A Combined In Silico Analysis and In Vitro Experimental Approach

“…These findings not only provide valuable insights into the nuanced protein expression profiles but also serve as supportive evidence for our in silico analysis, wherein Nanog emerged as a pivotal and differentially expressed gene during the transformation of SSCs into ES-like cells. Previous studies reported that there is a higher concentration of Nanog and other pluripotent factors in ES-like cells than SSCs [29][30][31] The expression status of the Nanog gene among ES-like cells derived from SSCs has been assessed in previous studies with a comparative perspective. As far as we know, most but not all of these studies have reported a higher Nanog gene expression or protein concentration by in vitro experiments.…”