Melanocytes induction from adipose-derived stem cells and studies on the mechanism for controlling melanin production for the development of therapeutic methods of vitiligo

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25893012
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Dermatology
Research Institution	Tohoku University
Principal Investigator	TSUCHIYAMA Kenichiro 東北大学, 大学病院, 医員 (50711743)
Project Period (FY)	2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Keywords	再生医療 / 色素細胞 / 尋常性白斑 / Muse細胞 / 脂肪組織由来幹細胞
Outline of Final Research Achievements	We found that multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) cells, a distinct stem cell type among human adipose tissue, can be easily reprogrammed into functional melanocytes. Muse cells can be isolated as cells positive for stage-specific embryonic antigen-3, a marker for undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells, and differentiate into cells representative of all three germ layers from a single cell, while also being non-tumorigenic. The use of certain combinations of factors induces Muse cells to express melanocyte markers. When Muse cell-derived melanocytes were incorporated into three-dimensional cultured skin models, they located in the basal layer of the epidermis and produced melanin in the same manner as authentic melanocytes. This technique may be applicable to the efficient production of melanocytes from accessible human adipose tissue by utilizing Muse cells, thereby contributing to autologous transplantation for melanocyte dysfunctions, such as vitiligo.