Reactive human iPSC astrocytes suppress oligodendrocyte precursor cell differentiation

Astrocytes are instrumental in both maintaining CNS homeostasis and responding to tissue injury. While astrocyte activation may be a beneficial response to acute pathologies, prolonged reactive gliosis is thought to be injurious in neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). A major limitation of studying neurodegenerative diseases is lack of human pathological specimens obtained during the acute stages, thereby relegating research to post mortem specimens often obtained years after the initiation of pathology. Rodent reactive astrocytes have been shown to be cytotoxic to neurons and oligodendrocytes but may differ from human cells, especially in diseases with known genetic susceptibility. Herein, we purified human CD49f+ astrocytes from differentiated induced pluripotent stem cells derived from individual patient and control peripheral white blood cell samples. We compared TNF and IL1a stimulated human reactive astrocytes from 7 persons with MS and 6 non-MS controls and show their specific astrocyte transcriptomic profiles are remarkably similar to those described in rodents. The functional effect of astrocyte conditioned media (ACM) was examined in a human oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) line differentiation assay using a transgenic secreted reporter of myelin basic protein (MBP) expression. ACM was not cytotoxic to the OPCs but robustly inhibited the MBP reporter. No differences were seen between MS and control stimulated astrocytes at either the transcript level or in functional OPC suppression assays. We next used RNAseq to interrogate differentially expressed genes in the OPC lines that had suppressed differentiation from the human ACM. Remarkably, not only was OPC differentiation and myelin gene expression suppressed, but we observed induction of several immune pathways and Nf-κB signaling in OPCs exposed to the ACM. These data support the notion that reactive astrocytes can inhibit OPC differentiation thereby limiting their remyelination capacity, and that OPCs take on an immune profile in the context of inflammatory cues. hiPSC Astrocytes: 7 Persons with MS, 6 Non-MS Controls, 2 conditions per person (Stimulated and Unstimulated), 26 samples. hOPC Reporters: 2 media only controls, 4 astrocyte conditioned media from PwMS, 4 astrocyte conditioned media from NMSC, 2 conditions per person (Stimulated and Unstimulated), 20 samples