Differentiation of human iPS cells into 3D retinal cups
JHU REF: [C12243]
Invention Novelty: This invention established a protocol to direct human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to differentiate into 3D retinal tissue in vitro.
Value Proposition: Groundbreaking experimentation in 2006 led to the introduction of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which overcomes the ethical and technical limits of embryonic and adult stem cells. Retinal degenerative diseases are a group of clinical conditions in which the dysfunction and death of retinal photoreceptor cells lead to vision loss. Stem cell-based approaches offer great clinical potential for the treatment of these diseases. Recently, it has been shown that mESC and hESC can differentiate into self-organizing optic cups. This technology is the first report to achieve differentiation of human iPSCs into 3D optic cups. Advantages of this technology include:
- First protocol to obtain 3D-retinal tissue in vitro from human iPSCs;
- Recapitulates retinal development in vivo;
- No growth factors and/or inhibitors/promoters were used;
- No adherent feeder cells were used;
- Provides a platform for disease modeling, drug discovery, and eventually autologous cell replacement therapies for retinal degenerative diseases;
- Simple, cost-effective and fitted for clinical applications.
Technical Details: The JHU inventors established a protocol to direct human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to differentiate into retinal tissue in vitro. The formation of retinal tissue from hiPSCs recapitulates the major steps of retinal development. Specifically, under adherent feeder-free conditions, hiPSCs first specified into eye field domains. Overtime, the eye field domains develop into optic vesicular structures and retinal pigmented epithelial domains. Remarkably, when cultured in suspension conditions, these retinal domains developed into highly organized 3D structures that are composed of a stratified neural retinal cup and adjacent retinal pigmented epithelium. The cells within the neural retina-like tissue demonstrated characteristic differentiation patterns of retinal cells and are organization into retinal layers. This is the first protocol to obtain 3D retinal tissue in vitro from hiPSCs and has great potential for clinical applications.
Looking for Partners: To commercialize this invention as a method to differentiate human iPSCs into retinal tissue.
Stage of development: preclinical
Data Availability: tested in three hiPSC cell lines including 6.2-CB-hiPSC, KA01-hiPSC and IMR90-C4.
Patent Status: Pending
Publication(s)/Associated Cases: WO 2015/109148; PMC4370190
Categories: Discovery/Research Tools, In Vitro research Tool
Keywords: human induced pluripotent stem cells, three-dimensional, optic cups, retinal tissue, differentiation, in vitro
