TPX2 Amplification-Driven Aberrant Mitosis in Culture Adapted Human Embryonic Stem Cells with gain of 20q11.21.

Background: Despite highly effective machinery for the maintenance of genome integrity in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), the frequency of genetic aberrations during in-vitro culture has been a serious issue for future clinical applications.

Method: By passaging hESCs over a broad range of timepoints (up to 6 years), the isogenic hESC lines with different passage numbers with distinct cellular characteristics, were established.

Result: We found that mitotic aberrations, such as the delay of mitosis, multipolar centrosomes, and chromosome mis-segregation, were increased in parallel with polyploidy compared to early-passaged hESCs (EP-hESCs) with normal copy number. Through high-resolution genome-wide approaches and transcriptome analysis, we found that culture adapted-hESCs with a minimal amplicon in chromosome 20q11.21 highly expressed TPX2, a key protein for governing spindle assembly and cancer malignancy. Consistent with these findings, the inducible expression of TPX2 in EP-hESCs reproduced aberrant mitotic events, such as the delay of mitotic progression, spindle stabilization, misaligned chromosomes, and polyploidy.

Conclusion: These studies suggest that the increased transcription of TPX2 in culture adapted hESCs could contribute to an increase in aberrant mitosis due to altered spindle dynamics.