Excessive Cellular Proliferation Negatively Impacts Reprogramming Efficiency of Human Fibroblasts

The impact of somatic cell proliferation rate on induction of pluripotent stem cells remains controversial. Herein, we report that rapid proliferation of human somatic fibroblasts is detrimental to reprogramming efficiency when reprogrammed using a lentiviral vector expressing OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and cMYC in insulin-rich defined medium. Human fibroblasts grown in this medium showed higher proliferation, enhanced expression of insulin signaling and cell cycle genes, and a switch from glycolytic to oxidative phosphorylation metabolism, but they displayed poor reprogramming efficiency compared with cells grown in normal medium. Thus, in contrast to previous studies, our work reveals an inverse correlation between the proliferation rate of somatic cells and reprogramming efficiency, and also suggests that upregulation of proteins in the growth factor signaling pathway limits the ability to induce pluripotency in human somatic fibroblasts.

The efficiency with which human cells can be reprogrammed is of interest to stem cell biology. In this study, human fibroblasts cultured in media containing different concentrations of growth factors such as insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 exhibited variable abilities to proliferate, with consequences on pluripotency. This occurred in part because of changes in the expression of proteins involved in the growth factor signaling pathway, glycolysis, and oxidative phosphorylation. These findings have implications for efficient reprogramming of human cells.