Nature Communications (Feb 2020)

IGF1-mediated human embryonic stem cell self-renewal recapitulates the embryonic niche

  • Sissy E. Wamaitha,
  • Katarzyna J. Grybel,
  • Gregorio Alanis-Lobato,
  • Claudia Gerri,
  • Sugako Ogushi,
  • Afshan McCarthy,
  • Shantha K. Mahadevaiah,
  • Lyn Healy,
  • Rebecca A. Lea,
  • Miriam Molina-Arcas,
  • Liani G. Devito,
  • Kay Elder,
  • Phil Snell,
  • Leila Christie,
  • Julian Downward,
  • James M. A. Turner,
  • Kathy K. Niakan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14629-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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The signals regulating the establishment and maintenance of the pluripotent epiblast in human embryos are unclear. Here, the authors use a bioinformatics approach to identify the role of IGF1 in human embryo development, and from this, propose a culture medium with IGF1 together with Activin to sustain hESCs in the absence of FGF.