Song Lin, Tuan Rocky S
Cartilage Biology and Orthopaedics Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-8022, USA.
FASEB J. 2004 Jun;18(9):980-2. doi: 10.1096/fj.03-1100fje. Epub 2004 Apr 14.
Transdifferentiation is a process whereby one cell type committed to and progressing along a specific developmental lineage switches into another cell type of a different lineage through genetic reprogramming. Even though this process has been well studied and established in amphibian systems, it is unclear if mammalian cells possess the same potential. Recent in vivo transplantation studies showed that adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were able to differentiate into mesoderm-derived cell types as well as cells with neuroectodermal and endodermal characteristics, suggesting that transdifferentiation occurs in mammalian systems. However, there are concerns over these findings because of the possibility of progenitor cell contamination and cell fusion. In this study, we have developed an in vitro differentiation strategy to assess if human MSCs that have differentiated into a given mesenchyme cell lineage can transdifferentiate into other cell types in response to inductive extracellular cues. Our results showed that fully differentiated cells from hMSCs were capable of dedifferentiation and transdifferentiation into cells of another developmental lineage at single cell levels.
转分化是一个过程，即一种已确定并沿着特定发育谱系发展的细胞类型，通过基因重编程转变为另一种不同谱系的细胞类型。尽管这一过程在两栖动物系统中已得到充分研究和证实，但尚不清楚哺乳动物细胞是否具有同样的潜能。最近的体内移植研究表明，成人间充质干细胞（MSC）能够分化为中胚层来源的细胞类型以及具有神经外胚层和内胚层特征的细胞，这表明转分化在哺乳动物系统中会发生。然而，由于存在祖细胞污染和细胞融合的可能性，这些研究结果受到了质疑。在本研究中，我们开发了一种体外分化策略，以评估已分化为特定间充质细胞谱系的人MSC是否能响应诱导性细胞外信号而转分化为其他细胞类型。我们的结果表明，来自人MSC的完全分化细胞能够在单细胞水平上去分化并转分化为另一个发育谱系的细胞。
