[PDF][PDF] Isolation and comparative transcriptome analysis of human fetal and iPSC-derived cone photoreceptor cells

E Welby, J Lakowski, V Di Foggia, D Budinger… - Stem Cell Reports, 2017 - cell.com
E Welby, J Lakowski, V Di Foggia, D Budinger, A Gonzalez-Cordero, ATL Lun, M Epstein
Stem Cell Reports, 2017cell.com
Loss of cone photoreceptors, crucial for daylight vision, has the greatest impact on sight in
retinal degeneration. Transplantation of stem cell-derived L/M-opsin cones, which form 90%
of the human cone population, could provide a feasible therapy to restore vision. However,
transcriptomic similarities between fetal and stem cell-derived cones remain to be defined, in
addition to development of cone cell purification strategies. Here, we report an analysis of
the human L/M-opsin cone photoreceptor transcriptome using an AAV2/9. pR2. 1: GFP …
Summary
Loss of cone photoreceptors, crucial for daylight vision, has the greatest impact on sight in retinal degeneration. Transplantation of stem cell-derived L/M-opsin cones, which form 90% of the human cone population, could provide a feasible therapy to restore vision. However, transcriptomic similarities between fetal and stem cell-derived cones remain to be defined, in addition to development of cone cell purification strategies. Here, we report an analysis of the human L/M-opsin cone photoreceptor transcriptome using an AAV2/9.pR2.1:GFP reporter. This led to the identification of a cone-enriched gene signature, which we used to demonstrate similar gene expression between fetal and stem cell-derived cones. We then defined a cluster of differentiation marker combination that, when used for cell sorting, significantly enriches for cone photoreceptors from the fetal retina and stem cell-derived retinal organoids, respectively. These data may facilitate more efficient isolation of human stem cell-derived cones for use in clinical transplantation studies.
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