Comparative transcriptomic analysis identifies reprogramming and differentiation genes differentially expressed in UiPSCs and ESCs.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) technology has garnered worldwide attention for its therapeutic applications in vivo. Researchers have previously shown that non-viral induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be generated from urine. As a potential alternative, Urinary iPSCs (UiPSCs) are highly similar to embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in many aspects such as morphology, expression of pluripotency markers and the capacity to develop into three germ layers in vitro and in vivo. However, the degree of gene expression similarity between iPSCs and ESCs has not been completely elucidated. In the present study, we performed a comparative study on the gene expression profile between UiPSCs and ESCs using microarray technology, and identified 19 differentially expressed genes. Furthermore, four genes associated with reprogramming and differentiation including neuronatin (NNAT), piwilike RNA-mediated gene silencing 2 (PIWIL2), early growth response 1 (EGR1) and TATA-box binding protein associated factor 9b (TAF9B) were validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assays. Our results indicate that compared with ESCs, UiPSCs demonstrated a different pathway in reprogramming and differentiation preference from ESCs, and can be used as a potential tool in disease modeling, drug discovery and regenerative medicine.