Human Dental Pulp Cells Mature vs. Immature stages

We report screening of genes differentially expressed in cells isolated from immature and mature third molar teeth. Among them, a homeobox transcription factor, distal-less homeobox 4 (DLX4) was highly expressed in immature human dental pulp cells, and significantly enhanced iPSC colony formation in combination with OCT3/4, SOX2, and KLF4 to the level comparable with that using classical combination of Yamanaka's factors, OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC. To investigate the effect of developmental stage of teeth on global gene expression, we compared DPCs isolated from immature (14-16yr) and mature (23-60yr) teeth.