Identification of master transcription factors in corneal epithelial cells

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We attempted to identify master transcription factors (TFs) in corneal epithelial cells (CECs) which are able to maintain the cell-type specific transcriptional profile. First, we used microarray analysis to select candidate master TFs in CECs from all the genes, which were highly expressed in CECs compared to various other cells. In order to narrow down the master TFs in CECs, iPS interference screening was performed and produced 20 candidate TFs. A particular combination of candidate TFs was able to induce CEC-like cells expressing keratin 12, which is a corneal specific marker when overexpressed in a heterologous cell type. Furthermore, the expression level of other corneal-related genes, such as keratin 3, keratin 15, aldehyde dehydrogenase 3, transketolase, and E-cadherin were upregulated in the induced cells. These results suggested that defined TFs, which enabled the induction of CECs, contributed to the maintenance of the corneal-specific transcriptional profile.