Human adult germline stem cells in question

Conrad et al. Nature 456, 344–349 (2008) have generated human adult germline stem cells (haGSCs) from human testicular tissue, which they claim have similar pluripotent properties to human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Here we investigate the pluripotency of haGSCs by using global gene-expression analysis based on their gene array data and comparing the expression of pluripotency marker genes in haGSCs and hESCs, and in haGSCs and human fibroblast samples derived from different laboratories, including our own. We find that haGSCs and fibroblasts have a similar gene-expression profile, but that haGSCs and hESCs do not. The pluripotency of Conrad and colleagues’ haGSCs is therefore called into question. RNA samples from human testicular fibroblast cells (hTFCs) were obtained and applied to global gene expression analysis using gene arrays.