The technology to eliminate the risk of tumor formation in human iPS cells by inhibiting cholesterol biosynthesis.

Abstract

ヒトiPS細胞を用いた細胞治療を行う際、「残存する未分化細胞による腫瘍形成」が今なお大きな課題として残されている。我々はコレステロール生合成阻害剤が無血清培地という条件の中で、増殖過程にある未分化な多能性幹細胞ならびに未成熟分化細胞のほぼ全てをアポトーシスにより死滅させることを見出した。より重要なことは増殖を止めた成熟分化細胞の生存・機能には全く影響を与えなかった点にある。本成果はiPS細胞を用いた移植医療を行う上でもっとも大きな課題である「腫瘍化の恐れのある未分化細胞を除去」ならびに「成熟分化細胞」を精製/純化するための基盤技術となることが期待される。Tumour formation by residual undifferentiated cells is still a major problem in human iPS cell therapy. We found that the cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitor killed almost all undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells and immature differentiated cells by apoptosis in serum-free medium. More importantly, the survival and function of mature differentiated cells that had stopped proliferating were not affected at all. These results are expected to serve as a basic technology for the "elimination of undifferentiated cells that may become tumours" and the "purification and enrichment of mature differentiated cells", which are the most important issues in transplantation medicine using iPS cells.研究分野：発生生物