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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

A Simple Method to Identify Kinases That Regulate Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency by High-throughput Inhibitor Screening
Published on: May 12, 2017
Delicate inhibition of NFκB/RELA circuitry facilitates efficient transition towards ground-state pluripotency in
Luqin Wang1,2, Lizhan Xiao3,4, Gaoyang Zou5
1China-New Zealand Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Biomedicine and Health, Institute of Development and Regeneration, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China. wang_luqin@gibh.ac.cn.
Abstract:
Rebuilding human naïve pluripotency from primed stem cells is essential for generating pre-implantation epiblast-like cells, a key source for regenerative medicine. Here we present a defined, feeder-free protocol that efficiently converts primed human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to a naïve-like state within 12 days. Integrated ATAC-seq, RNA-seq and miRNA-seq analyses reveal a rapid chromatin rewiring marked by increased accessibility at OCT/KLF motifs, closure at ZIC/RFX/NFκB sites, upregulation of miR-372/373 and miR-182/183, and downregulation of miR-302 and miR-363/106 clusters. Functional assays demonstrate that the inflammatory transcription factor NFκB/RELA blocks naïve induction by activating peri-implantation barrier genes, including IKBKE and VEGFR1. Conversely, enforced miR-372/373 expression accelerates conversion by directly targeting RELA. These data delineate an NFκB/RELA axis that orchestrates the epigenetic switch to human naïve pluripotency, offering a tractable framework for studying early human development and advancing cell-based therapies.
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