2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Differentiation induction from embryonic stem cells to functional thyroid tissues

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24791762
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Otorhinolaryngology
Research Institution	University of Fukui
Principal Investigator	KANNO Masafumi 福井大学, 医学部附属病院, 医員 (90444215)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	ES細胞 / 甲状腺 / Ｌｒｈ－１
Research Abstract	Differentiation induction from embryonic stem cells to thyroid tissues, which we is our objective, was accomplished by Dr. Antonica and others from Belgium in 2012, leading to transplantation into the body of a mouse and thus to recovery of thyroid function (Nature 491(7422):66-71.2012). We inferred an important relation between this differentiation efficacy and the potency of embryonic stem cells to maintain the undifferentiated state. We analyzed it further to improve the differentiation induction efficacy of embryonic stem cells. Results demonstrated that the liver receptor homologue 1 (LRH1), which we specifically examined, was induced directly by Sox2 and Gabp. It played an important role in self renewal.