Cell-free Embryonic Stem Cell Extract-mediated Derivation of Multi-potent Stem Cells from NIH3T3 Fibroblasts for Functional and Anatomical Ischemic Tissue Repair

Abstract

The oocyte-independent generation of multipotent stem cells is one of the goals in regenerative medicine. We report that upon exposure to mouse ES cell (ESC) extracts, reversibly permeabilized NIH3T3 cells undergo de-differentiation followed by stimulus-induced re-differentiation into multiple lineage cell types. Genome-wide expression profiling revealed significant differences between NIH3T3 and ESC-extract treated NIH3T3 cells including re-activation of ESC specific transcripts. Epigenetically, ESC extracts induced CpG de-methylation of Oct4 promoter, hyper-acetylation of histones 3 and 4 and decreased lysine 9 (K-9) dimethylation of histone 3. In mouse models of surgically-induced hind limb ischemia (HLI) or acute myocardial infarction (AMI) transplantation of reprogrammed NIH3T3 cells significantly improved post-injury physiological functions and showed antomical evidence of engraftment and trans-differentiation into skeletal muscle, endothelial cell and cardiomyocytes. These data provide evidence for the generation of functional multi-potent stem like cells from terminally differentiated somatic cells without the introduction of trans-genes or ESC fusion.