Differential MicroRNA Expression Profile of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Lineage Cells

Yoon Young Kim, Harry Min, Hoon Kim, Young Min Choi, Hung Ching Liu, Seung Yup Ku

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that participate in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. miRNAs have numerous roles in cellular function including embryonic development. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are capable of self-renewal and can differentiate into most of cell types including cardiomyocytes (CMs). These characteristics of hESCs make them considered as an important model for studying human embryonic development and tissue specific differentiation. In this study, we tried to demonstrate the profile of miRNA expression in cardiac differentiation from hESCs. To induce differentiation, we differentiated hESCs into CMs by direct differentiation method and characterized differentiated cells. To analyze the expression of miRNAs, we distinguished (days 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28) and isolated RNAs from each differentiation stage. miRNA specific RT-qPCR was performed and the expression profile of miR-1, -30d, -133a, -143, -145, -378a, -499a was evaluated. The expression of all miRs was up-regulated at day 8. miR-143 and -145 expression was also up-regulated at the later stage of differentiation. Only miR-378a expression returned to undifferentiated hESC levels at the other stages of differentiation. In conclusion, we elucidated the expression profile of miRNAs during differentiation into cardiomyocytes from hESCs. Our findings demonstrate the expression of miRNAs was stage-dependent during differentiation and suggest that the differentiation into CMs can be regulated by miRNAs through direct or indirect pathway.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)163-169
Number of pages7
JournalTissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Volume14
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, The Korean Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society and Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Keywords

  • Cardiac lineage
  • Differentiation
  • Human embryonic stem cell
  • MicroRNA

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