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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Derivation of Adult Human Fibroblasts and their Direct Conversion into Expandable Neural Progenitor Cells
Published on: July 29, 2015
Efficient reprogramming of adult neural stem cells to monocytes by ectopic expression of a single gene
Magda Forsberg1, Marie Carlén, Konstantinos Meletis
1Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract:
Neural stem cells have a broad differentiation repertoire during embryonic development and can be reprogrammed to pluripotency comparatively easily. We report that adult neural stem cells can be reprogrammed at very high efficiency to monocytes, a differentiated fate of an unrelated somatic lineage, by ectopic expression of the Ets transcription factor PU.1. The reprogrammed cells display a marker profile and functional characteristics of monocytes and integrate into tissues after transplantation. The failure to reprogram lineage-committed neural cells to monocytes with PU.1 suggests that neural stem cells are uniquely amenable to reprogramming.

