Global transcriptional profile of hESC-derived macrophage (iMAC), human monocyte-derived macrophage and THP-1 macrophage

We report here a modified protocol for generating homogenous populations of macrophage-like cells from human embryonic stem cells. The induced macrophages, referred to as iMAC, presented similar transcriptomic profiles and characteristic immunological features of classical macrophages and were permissive to viral and bacterial infection, in particular Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Their production was amenable to scale up and the resulting cells suitable for high-throughput screening. We performed RNA sequencing (RNASeq) of iMAC (20-day and 60-day), hESC, hMDM and THP-1 macrophages by Illumina HiSeq 2500. For genomic characterization of iMAC, we performed RNA sequencing (RNASeq) of 20-day and 60-day iMAC and compared their profiles with that of hESC, hMDM and THP-1 macrophages. To minimize the variations induced by the culture conditions, hMDM and late-stage iMAC were cultured in the same media (RPMI1640 + M-CSF).