Development of molecular system to distinguish and remove undifferentiated stem cells causing to tumor formation

人类干细胞一直是再生治疗的重要工具。尽管取得了进展，但干细胞的临床应用仍面临重大挑战。一个问题是，当动物模型与含有剩余未分化干细胞的细胞样本移植时，肿瘤就会产生。检测和消融未分化干细胞的策略是更安全的干细胞治疗所必需的。我们筛选了一个荧光化合物文库，用于选择性地染色人类iPS细胞，并发现了一个有希望的化合物。我们的分析表明，这种选择性是由于ABC转运蛋白在人多能干细胞及其分化细胞之间的不同表达模式所致。

Human stem cells have been serving as valuable tools for regeneration therapy. Despite advances, substantial challenges remain for clinical application of stem cells. One problem is that tumors arise when animal models are transplanted with cell samples containing remaining undifferentiated stem cells. Strategies to detect and ablate undifferentiated stem cells are required for safer stem cell therapy. We have screened a fluorescent-compound library for molecules that selectively stain human iPS cells, and found one promising compound. Our analyses indicate that the selectivity results from distinct expression pattern of ABC transporters betweenhuman pluripotent stem cells and its differentiated cells.