Robust and Highly Efficient Protocol for Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be isolated from different sources, such as bone marrow, cord blood, and adipose tissue; however, there are variations in MSC capabilities based on their origin, donor age, and culturing method. Recently, human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have been proposed as an alternative renewal source for generating MSCs with large number. Herein, we describe our recently established All-trans retinoic acid (RA)-based approach for generating a scalable number of MSCs from hPSCs. Our protocol generates highly proliferating MSCs that have all MSC characteristics, including fibroblast-like morphology, expression of the key MSC markers, lack of the hematopoietic markers, and ability to differentiate into the three mesodermal lineages. This RA-based method provides a protocol for generating an unlimited number of hPSC-derived MSCs that could be useful for cell therapy, drug screening, and disease modeling applications.