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CANCER STEM CELLS

OCT4 Spliced Variants Are Differentially Expressed in Human Pluripotent and Nonpluripotent Cells

^aDepartment of Genetics, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran;
^bUrology and Nephrology Research Center, Labbafi-Nejad Medical Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;
^cCentre for Stem Cell Biology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Key Words. OCT4 • Embryonic stem cells • Cancer • Spliced variants • OCT4B1

Correspondence: Correspondence: Peter W. Andrews, Ph.D., Centre for Stem Cell Biology, Department of Biomedical Science. University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, U.K. Telephone: 44-1142224173; Fax: 44-1142222399; e-mail: p.w.andrews{at}sheffield.ac.uk; or Seyed J. Mowla, Ph.D., Department of Genetics, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, P.O. Box: 14115-175. Telephone: 98-2182883464; Fax: 98-2188009730; e-mail: sjmowla{at}modares.ac.ir

Received on June 11, 2008; accepted for publication on August 28, 2008.

First published online in STEM CELLS EXPRESS  September 11, 2008.

OCT4 is a master regulator of self-renewal in embryonic stem cells and can potentially encode two spliced variants, designated OCT4A and OCT4B. We have examined the expression pattern of these OCT4 isoforms in various human pluripotent and nonpluripotent cells. Our data revealed that whereas OCT4A expression is restricted to embryonic stem (ES) and embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells, OCT4B can be detected in various nonpluripotent cell types. Furthermore, we detected a novel OCT4 spliced variant, designated OCT4B1, that is expressed primarily in human ES and EC cells and is downregulated following their differentiation. We also found a significantly higher level of OCT4B1 expression in stage-specific embryonic antigen-3 (SSEA3)(+) compared with SSEA3(–) subpopulations of cultured ES cells. Taken together, our data demonstrated a distinctive expression pattern for OCT4 spliced variants in different cell types and highlight the necessity of defining the type of OCT4 when addressing the expression of this gene in different human cells.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

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