Wnt signaling mediates acquisition of blood-brain barrier properties in naive endothelium derived from human pluripotent stem cells

Abstract

Endothelial cells (ECs) in the central nervous system (CNS) acquire their specialized blood-brain barrier (BBB) properties in response to extrinsic signals, with Wnt/p-catenin signaling coordinating multiple aspects of this process. Our knowledge of CNS EC development has been advanced largely by animal models, and human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) offer the opportunity to examine BBB development in an in vitro human system. Here we show that activation of Wnt signaling in hPSC-derived naive endothelial progenitors, but not in matured ECs, leads to robust acquisition of canonical BBB phenotypes including expression of GLUT-1, increased claudin-5, decreased PLVAP and decreased permeability. RNA-seq revealed a transcriptome profile resembling ECs with CNS-like characteristics, including Wnt-upregulated expression of LEF1, APCDD1, and ZIC3. Together, our work defines effects of Wnt activation in naive ECs and establishes an improved hPSC-based model for interrogation of CNS barriergenesis.