Direct monitoring of live human pluripotent stem cells by a highly selective pluripotency sensor

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are a useful cell source for regenerative medicine. Despite having a potential of hPSCs for cell-based therapy, there is a need for a selective human pluripotency sensor for monitoring of live hPSCs. Here, we report the discovery of a novel pluripotency sensor (SHI5) from BODIPY-based library by high-throughput cell-based screening and describe the use of SHI5 to identify and isolate human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells. We demonstrate that SHI5-based assay can be applied to live cells that gain pluripotency in the reprogramming process without any effect on their viability. We also show that SHI5 is internalized through a clathrin-mediated endocytosis pathway. These findings suggest that SHI5 can be an attractive sensor for pluripotency cells during reprogramming. Taken together, SHI5-based screening for hPSCs opens probably unlimited possibilities of detection probe for hPSC therapy via assures their safety issue.