Background
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold tremendous potential, both as a biological tool to uncover the pathophysiology of disease by creating relevant human cell models, and as a source of cells for cell-based therapeutic applications. Studying the reprogramming process will also provide significant insight into tissue development.
Objective
We sought to characterize the derivation of iPSC lines from nasal epithelial cells isolated from the nasal mucosa samples of children, a highly relevant and easily accessible tissue for pediatric populations.
Methods
We performed detailed comparative analysis on the transcriptomes and methylomes of nasal epithelial cells, iPSCs derived from nasal epithelial cells (NEC-iPSCs), and ESCs.
Results
NEC-iPSCs express pluripotent cell markers, can differentiate into all three germ layers in vivo and in vitro, and have a transcriptome and methylome remarkably similar to ESCs. However, residual DNA methylation marks exist, which are differentially methylated between NEC-iPSCs and ESCs. A subset of these methylation markers related to epithelium development and asthma and specific to iPSCs generated from nasal epithelial cells persisted after several passages in vitro, suggesting the retention of an epigenetic memory of their tissue of origin. Our analysis also identified novel candidate genes with dynamic gene expression and DNA methylation changes during reprogramming, indicative of possible roles in airway epithelium development.
Conclusion
Nasal epithelial cells are an excellent tissue source to generate iPSCs in pediatric asthmatics, and detailed characterization of the resulting iPSC lines would help us better understand the reprogramming process and retention of epigenetic memory.