不死化多能耳の前駆細胞に分化を開始

The organs of the inner ear, the cochlea, utricle, saccule and three semicircular canals, mediate the ability to hear and balance. Within the cochlea, hair cells convert sounds into electrical signals that are relayed to the spiral ganglion neurons (SGN). The SGNs fire action potentials to propagate neural signals through the auditory circuit. Genetic mutations, ototoxic drugs and exposure to loud sounds contribute to hair cell and SGN death that result in hearing loss^1-4. Once lost, these cells are not replaced. Use of iPSC and ESC to generate nascent hair cells or SGNs holds great promise for inner ear cell replacement therapies^5-8. A flurry of progress has shown that pluripotent stem cells and inner ear derived progenitors can differentiate into hair cells and SGNs at various stages of maturity. Mammalian embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) can be used to generate functional hair cells and SGNs^9-11. Stem cells and progenitor cells derived from the mammalian inner ear have also been shown to form hair cells and neurons with properties of their in vivo cellular counterparts^12-16.

Use of iPSC or ESC-derived otic progenitors to replace lost hair cells and SGNs requires efficient differentiation. Improper differentiation or continued proliferation of engrafted stem-derived progenitors in the inner ear can exacerbate inner ear function and pose a tumorigenic risk such as teratomas formation in the inner ear¹⁷. There is a clear need for developing culture conditions and understanding differentiation of otic progenitors. One strategy in developing these methods is to recapitulate cell fate decisions made by neurosensory progenitors during inner ear development. Protocols that prevent proliferation and direct otic progenitors into hair cells or SGNs will help improve safety as well as efficacy of replacement therapies.

During development, the inner ear begins with the thickening of surface ectoderm in a restricted region between rhombomeres 5 and 6 to become the otic placode. As the otic placode invaginates to form an otic cup, a collection of cells in the anterior region of the otic cup gives rise to the neural-sensory-competent domain (NSD), which contains precursors of hair cells and neurons of the inner ear¹⁸. Fate mapping studies from mouse, chicken and zebrafish developing inner ear suggest multiple populations of neurosensory progenitors that give rise to the sensory hair cells, surrounding supporting cells and otic neurons^19-22. The high mobility group transcription factor, Sox2, has been implicated in sensory cell specification and used as a marker for inner ear progenitors^23,24. Hypomorphic mutations that decrease Sox2 expression levels in the inner ear result in the loss of the hair cells, supporting cells and SGNs in the cochlea^25,26.

To study otic progenitor cells undergoing cell fate decisions, a fate restricted immortalized multipotent otic progenitor (iMOP) cell line from Sox2 expressing cochlear progenitors was previously established. iMOP cells were originally derived from embryonic E12.5-13.5 cochlea and infected with a c-Myc retrovirus²⁷. iMOP cells can continually proliferate as colony forming cells known as otospheres and have the capacity to differentiate into hair cells, supporting cells and SGNs²⁷. Understanding the capacity of iMOP cells to differentiate into distinct otic lineages allows application of these findings to efficiently generate iPSC or ESC-derived hair cells and SGNs. Efficient differentiation protocols will open new avenues for cell replacement therapies of inner ear diseases that are recalcitrant to conventional treatments. A crucial issue in generating otic cells by in vitro cell culture is to have differentiation markers that help determine if cells are undergoing differentiating. Cdkn1b (p27^KIP) has been extensively used as an early marker for differentiation in developing inner ear, however, expression of Cdkn1b in iMOP cells and how it correlates to differentiation has not been addressed. In this study, the current culture conditions and how Cdkn1b expression correlates to other markers of iMOP differentiation are described.