Putative Immunogenicity Expression Profiling Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cells and Derivatives

Abstract

© AlphaMed Press. Autologous human induced pluripotent stemcells (hiPSCs) should allow cellular therapeuticswithout an associated immune response. This concept has been controversial since the original report that syngeneicmouse iPSCs elicited an immune response after transplantation. However, an investigative analysis of any potential acute immune responses in hiPSCs and their derivatives has yet to be conducted. In the present study, we used correlative gene expression analysis of two putative mouse “immunogenicity” genes, ZG16 and HORMAD1, to assay their human homologous expression levels in human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives. We found that ZG16 expression is heterogeneous acrossmultiple human embryonic stem cell and hiPSC-derived cell types. Additionally, ectopic expression of ZG16 in antigen-presenting cells is insufficient to trigger a detectable response in a peripheral blood mononuclear cell coculture assay. Neither of the previous immunogenicity-associated genes in the mouse currently appears to be relevant in a human context.