Tal1/scl gene transduction using a lentiviral vector stimulates highly efficient hematopoietic cell differentiation from common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) ES cells

¹ Department of Molecular Genetics, Division of Molecular and Clinical Genetics, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
² Department of Biomedical Science, Central Institute for Experimental Animals, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan,
³ Cell Bank, RIKEN BioResource Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
⁴ Division of Molecular Therapy, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: taniken{at}bioreg.kyushu-u.ac.jp.

	Abstract

The development of embryonic stem (ES) cell therapies requires the establishment of efficient methods to differentiate ES cells into specific cell lineages. Here we report the in vitro differentiation of common marmoset (CM; Callithrix jacchus) ES cells into hematopoietic cells following exogenous gene transfer using VSV-G-pseudotyped lentiviral vectors. We transduced hematopoietic genes, including tal1/scl, gata1, gata2, hoxB4, and Lhx2, into CM ES cells. By immunochemical and morphological analyses, we demonstrated that overexpression of tal1/scl, but not the remaining genes, dramatically increased hematopoiesis of CM ES cells, resulting in multiple blood-cell lineages. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that CD34, a hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell marker, was highly expressed in tal1/scl-overexpressing embryoid body (EB) cells. Similar results were obtained from three independent CM ES lines. These results suggest that transduction of exogenous tal1/scl cDNA into ES cells is a promising method to induce the efficient differentiation of CM ES cells into hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells.