フィーダーフリー条件にセンダイウイルスを用いてヒト末梢T細胞から人工多能性幹細胞の生成

We describe a protocol for generating iPSCs from human peripheral T cells in serum-free and feeder-free conditions using a combination of matrigel, mTeSR medium, and SeV vectors. For clinical applications of iPSCs, it is important to have a protocol for stably generating iPSCs and a less-invasive method for cell sampling. Although generating iPSCs with the combination of matrigel and mTeSR medium showed lower reprogramming efficiency than that with knockout serum replacement (KSR) medium and feeder-cells, this combination achieves stable generation of iPSCs from donors¹⁶. Stable iPSC generation and less-invasive cell sampling has the advantage of being able to increase the number of donors for iPSC generation.

SeV vectors, a minus-strand RNA virus, is not integrated into the host genome. Therefore the risks of tumorigenesis can be avoided at the step of reprogramming factor induction^20-24. Additionally, the feeder-free conditions, which use a combination of defined culture medium and matrigel instead of a feeder layer, make it possible to minimize the potential risks of exposure to unknown exogenous factors. The fusion of these techniques provides a less invasive and safer iPSC technology for regenerative medicine¹⁶.

Important steps in this protocol are the step of activating human T cells (Step 1) and infecting them with SeV vectors (Step 2). When no ESC-like colony is obtained in the culture dish at an optimal time after SeV infection, the following should be considered. First, the confluency of the mononuclear cells before T cell activation may not be appropriate because optimal activation of T cells is critical for SeV infection^25,26. Too high a density of mononuclear cells leads to cell death, interfering with the proper activation of T cells. Too low a density of mononuclear cells also disturbs the proper activation and proliferation of T cells. Therefore, the confluency of mononuclear cells should be checked and adjusted accordingly. Second, the dosage of SeV vectors may not be sufficient. The induction efficiency of iPSC colonies depends on the dosage of the virus⁶. If no ESC-like colony is observed after SeV infection, the option of increasing the virus dosage up to an MOI of 15-20 should be considered. If signs of iPSC colony differentiation are observed, the frequency at which medium is changed may be increased up to every other day, or to every day when colonies are larger.

The limitation in this protocol consists of this method not being virus free. Although SeV for cell reprogramming is commercially available with ease, users need to prepare equipment according to the appropriate biosafety level. As another method for generating integration-free iPSCs, episomal vectors have been used until now^27-29. Although episomal vectors can be used with equipment with a lower level of biosafety, episomal vectors might insert into the host genome at extremely low rates. Therefore, additional checks are required to confirm the disappearance of transgenes, as when using SeV.

There is another limitation in that this technique is not absolutely free from animal-derived products. Some substrates, such as matrigel, anti-CD3 mAb, dissociation solution and SeV solution are derived from animal products and are therefore associated with a risk of transferring xenogeneic pathogens. However, the reduction of animal-derived substrates in the culture system is meaningful for the clinical application of iPSC technology due to the lower risk.