Highly Efficient Differentiation of Endothelial Cells from Pluripotent Stem Cells Requires the MAPK and the PI3K Pathways.

Pluripotent stem cells are a promising source of endothelial cells (ECs) for the treatment of vascular diseases. We have developed a robust protocol to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into ECs with high purities (94%-97% CD31 and 78%-83% VE-cadherin ) in 8 days without cell sorting. Passaging of these cells yielded a nearly pure population of ECs (99% of CD31 and 96.

Preclinical evaluation of mesenchymal stem cells overexpressing VEGF to treat critical limb ischemia.

Numerous clinical trials are utilizing mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to treat critical limb ischemia, primarily for their ability to secrete signals that promote revascularization. These cells have demonstrated clinical safety, but their efficacy has been limited, possibly because these paracrine signals are secreted at subtherapeutic levels. In these studies the combination of cell and gene therapy was evaluated by engineering MSC with a lentivirus to overexpress vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

Ethanol negatively regulates hepatic differentiation of hESC by inhibition of the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway in vitro.

Background: Alcohol insult triggers complex events in the liver, promoting fibrogenic/inflammatory signals and in more advanced cases, aberrant matrix deposition. It is well accepted that the regenerative capacity of the adult liver is impaired during alcohol injury. The liver progenitor/stem cells have been shown to play an important role in liver regeneration -in response to various chronic injuries; however, the effects of alcohol on stem cell differentiation in the liver are not well understood.

Insulin and IGFs enhance hepatocyte differentiation from human embryonic stem cells via the PI3K/AKT pathway.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can be progressively differentiated into definitive endoderm (DE), hepatic progenitors, and hepatocytes, and thus provide an excellent model system for the mechanistic study of hepatocyte differentiation, which is currently poorly understood. Here, we found that insulin enhanced hepatocyte differentiation from hESC-derived DE. Insulin activated the PI3K/AKT pathway, but not the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in the DE cells, and inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathways by inhibitors markedly inhibited hepatocyte differentiation.