Silencing of p53 and CDKN1A establishes sustainable immortalized megakaryocyte progenitor cells from human iPSCs

Platelet transfusions are critical for severe thrombocytopenia, but depend on the vast number of blood donors. The shortage of donors and the potential of universal HLA-null platelet products have stimulated research on the ex vivo differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to platelets. We recently established expandable immortalized megakaryocyte cell lines (imMKCLs) from hPSCs by transducing c-MYC, BMI1, and BCL-XL (MBX). imMKCLs can act as cryopreservable master cells to supply platelet concentrates. However, the proliferation rates of the imMKCL vary with the starting hPSC clone . In this study, we reveal from the gene expression profiles of several MKCL clones that the proliferation arrest is correlated to the expression levels of specific cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors. Silencing CDKN1A and p53 with the overexpression of MBX was effective at stably inducing imMKCLs that generate functional platelets independent of the hPSC clone. Collectively, this improvement in generating imMKCLs should contribute to industrialization and platelet biology.