Expression of pluripotency genes in chondrocyte-like cells differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) constitute an important breakthrough in regenerative medicine, particularly in orthopedics, where more effective treatments are urgently needed. Despite the promise of hiPSCs only limited data on in vitro chondrogenic differentiation of hiPSCs are available. Therefore, we compared the gene expression profile of pluripotent genes in hiPSC-derived chondrocytes (ChiPS) to that of an hiPSC cell line created by our group (GPCCi001-A). The feeder-dependent hiPSC cell line (GPCCi001-A) generated by our group were differentiated into chondrocyte-like cells (ChiPS) via monolayer culture. The experiment was performed in triplicate. We performed global gene expression analysis using the Affymetrix platform—to better understand the processes directing cell fate during chondrogenic differentiation in vitro (hiPSC served as a control). This study had three primary aims: 1) to evaluate the similarities between hiPSC-derived chondrocytes (ChiPS) and parental” hiPSCs at the gene level, 2) to assess how the differentiation process changes the expression of essential genes involved in pluripotency; and 3) to determine whether the hiPSC cells maintain their pluripotency state in long term cultures.