Effect of combinatorial transcription factor overexpression on iPSC-derived endothelial cells

We aimed to investigate how transcription factors alter brain-specific and zonation-identity of endothelial cells. We used a dox-inducible lentivirus to increase expression of specific combinations of transcription factors expressed by human brain endothelial cells in iPSC-derived endothelial cell (iEC) monolayers. Using SMART-seq we compared gene expression profiles and benchmarked gene expression to iPSC-derived brain microvascular endothelial-like cells (iBMECs). iPSC-derived endothelial cells (iECs) were differentiated from WTC-ZO1 iPSC line and then transduced with an 'all-in-one' dox on lentivirus system. Non-transduced iPSC-dervied endothelial cells and iPSC-derived brain microvascular endothelial-like cells (iBMECs) were used as a control. Combinations of arterial (HEY1, PRDM16), capillary (LEF1, KLF2, TSC22D1, FOXP1), or venous (PPARD, FLI1, TSHZ2) transcription factors were utilized.