Efficient Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells to Endothelial Cells.

Endothelial cells (ECs) line the interior surface of blood and lymphatic vessels, and play a key role in a variety of physiological or pathological processes such as thrombosis, inflammation, or vascular wall remodeling. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs)-derived ECs provide a new opportunity for vascular regeneration and serve as a model to study the mechanism and to screen for novel therapies. We use developmental cues in a monolayer differentiation approach to efficiently generate mesoderm cells from iPSCs via small-molecule activation of WNT signaling in chemically defined medium for 4 days, and subsequent EC specification using vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor for another 4 days. After 8 days of differentiation, mature ECs are further purified using magnetic-activated cell sorting for the EC surface marker CD144. These ECs exhibit molecular and cellular characteristics consistent with native ECs, such as expression of specific surface markers, formation of tube-like structures and acetylated low-density lipoprotein uptake.