Conversion of Human Fibroblasts to Stably Self-Renewing Neural Stem Cells with a Single Zinc-Finger Transcription Factor

Summary Direct conversion of somatic cells into neural stem cells (NSCs) by defined factors holds great promise for mechanistic studies, drug screening, and potential cell therapies for different neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we report that a single zinc-finger transcription factor, Zfp521, is sufficient for direct conversion of human fibroblasts into long-term self-renewable and multipotent NSCs. In vitro, Zfp521-induced NSCs maintained their characteristics in the absence of exogenous factor expression and exhibited morphological, molecular, developmental, and functional properties that were similar to control NSCs. In addition, the single-seeded induced NSCs were able to form NSC colonies with efficiency comparable with control NSCs and expressed NSC markers. The converted cells were capable of surviving, migrating, and attaining neural phenotypes after transplantation into neonatal mouse and adult rat brains, without forming tumors. Moreover, the Zfp521-induced NSCs predominantly expressed rostral genes. Our results suggest a facilitated approach for establishing human NSCs through Zfp521-driven conversion of fibroblasts.

• Publication year

  2016

• Venue

  Stem Cell Reports

• Publication date

  2016-03-24

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.stemcr.2016.02.013PMID 27052315PMCID 4834053
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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