Biography
Biography: Ji-Hye Jung
Abstract
Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a crucial factor sustaining human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). We designed this study to search the substitutive factors other than bFGF for the maintenance of hPSCs by using human placenta-derived conditioned medium without exogenous bFGF (hPCCM-), containing CXCR2 ligands including IL-8 and GROα, which was developed on the basis of our previous studies. Firstly, we confirmed that IL-8 and/or GROα play independent roles to preserve the phenotype of hPSCs. And, we tried CXCR2 blockage of hPSCs in hPCCM- and verified the significant decrease of pluripotency-associated genes expression and the proliferation of hPSCs. Interestingly, CXCR2 suppression of hPSCs in mTeSR™1 containing exogenous bFGF decreased the proliferation of hPSCs with maintaining pluripotency characteristics. Lastly, we found that hPSCs proliferated robustly for more than 35 passages in hPCCM- on a gelatin substratum. Our findings suggest that, CXCR2 and its related ligands might be novel factors comparable to bFGF supporting the characteristics of hPSCs and hPCCM- might be useful for a unique feeder-free humanized culture system supporting hPSCs maintenance as well as for the accurate evaluation of CXCR2 role on hPSCs without the confounding influence of exogenous bFGF.