Title
Brief report: Chimeric pigs produced from induced pluripotent stem cells demonstrate germline transmission and no evidence of tumor formation in young pigs
Date Issued
01 October 2011
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
West F.D.
Uhl E.W.
Liu Y.
Stowe H.
Lu Y.
Yu P.
Pratt S.L.
Stice S.L.
University of Georgia, Athens
Abstract
The recent development of porcine induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSCs) capable of generating chimeric animals, a feat not previously accomplished with embryonic stem cells or iPSCs in a species outside of rodents, has opened the doors for in-depth study of iPSC tumorigenicity, autologous transplantation, and other key aspects to safely move iPSC therapies to the clinic. The study of iPSC tumorigenicity is critical as previous research in the mouse showed that iPSC-derived chimeras possessed large numbers of tumors, rising significant concerns about the safety of iPSC therapies. Additionally, piPSCs capable of generating germline chimeras could revolutionize the transgenic animal field by enabling complex genetic manipulations (e.g., knockout or knockin of genes) to produce biomedically important large animal models or improve livestock production. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time in a nonrodent species germline transmission of iPSCs with the live birth of a transgenic piglet that possessed genome integration of the human POU5F1 and NANOG genes. In addition, gross and histological examination of necropsied porcine chimeras at 2, 7, and 9 months showed that these animals lacked tumor formation and demonstrated normal development. Tissue samples positive for human POU5F1 DNA showed no C-MYC gene expression, further implicating C-MYC as a cause of tumorigenicity. The development of germline-competent porcine iPSCs that do not produce tumors in young chimeric animals presents an attractive and powerful translational model to study the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapies and perhaps to efficiently produce complex transgenic animals. © AlphaMed Press.
Start page
1640
End page
1643
Volume
29
Issue
10
Language
English
Subjects
DOI
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-80053221986
PubMed ID
Source
Stem Cells
ISSN of the container
10665099
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus