Abstract
Present practices for reprogramming somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells involve simultaneous introduction of reprogramming factors. Here we report that a sequential introduction protocol (Oct4–Klf4 first, then c-Myc and finally Sox2) outperforms the simultaneous one. Surprisingly, the sequential protocol activates an early epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as indicated by the upregulation of Slug and N-cadherin followed by a delayed mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET). An early EMT induced by 1.5-day TGF-β treatment enhances reprogramming with the simultaneous protocol, whereas 12-day treatment blocks reprogramming. Consistent results were obtained when the TGF-β antagonist Repsox was applied in the sequential protocol. These results reveal a time-sensitive role of individual factors for optimal reprogramming and a sequential EMT–MET mechanism at the start of reprogramming. Our studies provide a rationale for further optimizing reprogramming, and introduce the concept of a sequential EMT–MET mechanism for cell fate decision that should be investigated further in other systems, both in vitro and in vivo.
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Acknowledgements
This work has been supported in part by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA01020302, XDA01020401), the Guangzhou International Science and Technology Cooperation Projects from the Bureau of Science and Information Technology of the Guangzhou Municipal Government (2012J5100007), the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (S2012010010087), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31100773, 30900854) and the Major New Drugs Innovation of Major National Scientific and Technological Project (2011ZX09102-010-01).
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H.Z. and D.P. conceived and supervised the study and wrote the manuscript. H.Z. and X.L. designed the experiments and analysed the data. All authors except H.Z. and D.P. performed the experiments.
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Liu, X., Sun, H., Qi, J. et al. Sequential introduction of reprogramming factors reveals a time-sensitive requirement for individual factors and a sequential EMT–MET mechanism for optimal reprogramming. Nat Cell Biol 15, 829–838 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb2765
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb2765
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