Changes in Laminin Expression Pattern during Early Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 17;10(9):e0138346. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138346. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Laminin isoforms laminin-511 and -521 are expressed by human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and can be used as a growth matrix to culture these cells under pluripotent conditions. However, the expression of these laminins during the induction of hESC differentiation has not been studied in detail. Furthermore, the data regarding the expression pattern of laminin chains in differentiating hESC is scarce. In the current study we aimed to fill this gap and investigated the potential changes in laminin expression during early hESC differentiation induced by retinoic acid (RA). We found that laminin-511 but not -521 accumulates in the committed cells during early steps of hESC differentiation. We also performed a comprehensive analysis of the laminin chain repertoire and found that pluripotent hESC express a more diverse range of laminin chains than shown previously. In particular, we provide the evidence that in addition to α1, α5, β1, β2 and γ1 chains, hESC express α2, α3, β3, γ2 and γ3 chain proteins and mRNA. Additionally, we found that a variant of laminin α3 chain-145 kDa-accumulated in RA-treated hESC showing that these cells produce prevalently specifically modified version of α3 chain in early phase of differentiation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Differentiation / physiology*
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Human Embryonic Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Human Embryonic Stem Cells / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Laminin / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Protein Isoforms / metabolism
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism

Substances

  • Laminin
  • Protein Isoforms
  • RNA, Messenger

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the EMBO Installation Grant No1819 and grants no. ETF8932 and PUT4 from the Estonian Research Council (to V.J.), and research grants PUT374 from Estonian Research Council and SF0180100s08 from Estonian Ministry of Higher Education and Research (to T.M.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.