Reprogramming Human Melanocytes and Melanoma Cells with Yamanaka Factors

Year 2018, Volume: 46 Issue: 1, 35 - 41, 01.03.2018

Açelya Yılmazer , Hadiseh Taheri

Abstract

The generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from somatic cells showed that cell fate could be
manipulated by simply introducing a few transcription factors. The differentiation potential of iPS cells has
uncovered a wide range of potential applications, including disease modeling, drug screening and regenerative
therapy. In this study, we aimed to induce reprogramming of human melanocytes and melanoma cell lines
via Sendai viral vectors encoding Yamanaka factors. Following transfection, pluripotent stem cell colonies
have emerged in the melanocyte cultures, as evident by phase-contrast and fluorescence microscopy images.
However, only cell clusters which were not positive for pluripotency markers were obtained in the melanoma
cell cultures. This proved that there are differences between healthy and cancer cell reprogramming. Basal
gene expression of Yamanaka factors, pluripotency markers and tumor-suppressor genes have been identified
in order to understand the different responses for cell reprogramming in melanocytes and cancer cell lines.
Future studies that will allow efficient reprogramming of cancer cells can improve our knowledge about cancer
biology and therapy

Keywords

iPS cells, melanoma, melanocytes, Yamanaka factors, cell reprogramming

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