| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
In this study, we showed that the reprogramming potential of human dental pulp cells (DPCs) obtained from immature teeth is much higher than those of mature teeth DPCs. Furthermore, immature teeth DPCs can be reprogrammed by OCT3/4 and SOX2, conversely these two factors are insufficient to convert mature teeth DPCs to pluripotent states. Using a gene expression profiles between these two DPC groups, we identified a new transcript factor, distal-less homeobox 4 (DLX4), which was highly expressed in immature teeth DPCs and significantly promoted human iPSC generation in combination with OCT3/4, SOX2, and KLF4. We further show that activation of TGF-b signaling suppresses the expression of DLX4 in DPCs and impairs the iPSC generation of DPCs. Our findings indicate that DLX4 can functionally replace c-MYC and supports efficient reprogramming of immature teeth DPCs.
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