Generation of transgene-free mouse induced pluripotent stem cells using an excisable lentiviral system

One goal of research using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) is to generate patient-specific cells which can be used to obtain multiple types of differentiated cells as disease models. Minimally or non-integrating methods to deliver the reprogramming genes are considered to be the best but they may be inefficient. Lentiviral delivery is currently among the most efficient methods but it integrates transgenes into the genome, which may affect the behavior of the iPSC if integration occurs into an important locus. Here we designed a polycistronic lentiviral construct containing four pluripotency genes with an EGFP selection marker. The cassette was excisable with the Cre-loxP system making possible the removal of the integrated transgenes from the genome. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts were reprogrammed using this viral system, rapidly resulting in large number of iPSC colonies. Based on the lowest EGFP expression level, one parental line was chosen for excision. Introduction of the Cre recombinase resulted in transgene-free iPSC subclones. The effect of the transgenes was assessed by comparing the parental iPSC with two of its transgene-free subclones. Both excised and non-excised iPSCs expressed standard pluripotency markers. The subclones obtained after Cre recombination were capable of differentiation in vitro, in contrast to the parental, non-excised cells and formed germ-line competent chimeras in vivo.