Direct conversion of human fibroblasts into functional Leydig-like cells by SF-1, GATA4 and NGFI-B.

Direct conversion of human fibroblasts into functional Leydig-like cells by SF-1, GATA4 and NGFI-B. Am J Transl Res. 2018;10(1):175-183 Authors: Hou YP, Zhang ZY, Xing XY, Zhou J, Sun J Abstract The reprogramming of fibroblasts to induced pluripotent stem cells raises the possibility that a somatic cell can be reprogrammed to an alternative, differentiated fate without first becoming a stem/progenitor cell. Recent work has shown that fibroblasts can be reprogrammed to other, terminally differentiated cells with a combination of several transcription factors. Here, we report that a combination of four developmental transcription factors; GATA4, SF-1, NGFI-B, and COUP TF2; efficiently reprogrammed human foreskin fibroblasts into functional induced Leydig-like cells (iLCs). The iLCs expressed Leydig-specific markers and secreted testosterone in vitro. We found that GATA4 and SF-1 were particularly critical for Leydig-specific markers expression and that GATA4, SF-1, and NGFI-B were necessary to generate functional iLCs that secreted testosterone. These findings demonstrate that fibroblasts can be directly converted into iLCs with a few, defined factors and may provide insight into potential therapies to treat testosterone deficiency. PMID: 29423003 [PubMed]
Source: American Journal of Translational Research - Category: Research Tags: Am J Transl Res Source Type: research