TY - JOUR
T1 - Oct-4 expression in adult human differentiated cells challenges its role as a pure stem cell marker
AU - Zangrossi, Stefano
AU - Marabese, Mirko
AU - Broggini, Massimo
AU - Giordano, Rosaria
AU - D'Erasmo, Marco
AU - Montelatici, Elisa
AU - Intini, Daniela
AU - Neri, Antonino
AU - Pesce, Maurizio
AU - Rebulla, Paolo
AU - Lazzari, Lorenza
PY - 2007/7
Y1 - 2007/7
N2 - The Oct-4 transcription factor, a member of the POU family that is also known as Oct-3 and Oct3/4, is expressed in totipotent embryonic stem cells (ES) and germ cells, and it has a unique role in development and in the determination of pluripotency. ES may have their postnatal counterpart in the adult stem cells, recently described in various mammalian tissues, and Oct-4 expression in putative stem cells purified from adult tissues has been considered a real marker of stemness. In this context, normal mature adult cells would not be expected to show Oct-4 expression. On the contrary, we demonstrated, using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (total RNA, Poly A+), real-time PCR, immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, band shift, and immunofluorescence, that human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, genetically stable and mainly terminally differentiated cells with well defined functions and a limited lifespan, express Oct-4. These observations raise the question as to whether the role of Oct-4 as a marker of pluripotency should be challenged. Our findings suggest that the presence of Oct-4 is not sufficient to define a cell as pluripotent, and that additional measures should be used to avoid misleading results in the case of an embryonic-specific gene with a large number of pseudogenes that may contribute to false identification of Oct-4 in adult stem cells. These unexpected findings may provide new insights into the role of Oct-4 in fully differentiated cells.
AB - The Oct-4 transcription factor, a member of the POU family that is also known as Oct-3 and Oct3/4, is expressed in totipotent embryonic stem cells (ES) and germ cells, and it has a unique role in development and in the determination of pluripotency. ES may have their postnatal counterpart in the adult stem cells, recently described in various mammalian tissues, and Oct-4 expression in putative stem cells purified from adult tissues has been considered a real marker of stemness. In this context, normal mature adult cells would not be expected to show Oct-4 expression. On the contrary, we demonstrated, using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (total RNA, Poly A+), real-time PCR, immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, band shift, and immunofluorescence, that human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, genetically stable and mainly terminally differentiated cells with well defined functions and a limited lifespan, express Oct-4. These observations raise the question as to whether the role of Oct-4 as a marker of pluripotency should be challenged. Our findings suggest that the presence of Oct-4 is not sufficient to define a cell as pluripotent, and that additional measures should be used to avoid misleading results in the case of an embryonic-specific gene with a large number of pseudogenes that may contribute to false identification of Oct-4 in adult stem cells. These unexpected findings may provide new insights into the role of Oct-4 in fully differentiated cells.
KW - Human peripheral cells
KW - Oct-4
KW - Stem cell marker
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34547180496&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34547180496&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1634/stemcells.2006-0611
DO - 10.1634/stemcells.2006-0611
M3 - Article
C2 - 17379765
AN - SCOPUS:34547180496
VL - 25
SP - 1675
EP - 1680
JO - Stem Cells
JF - Stem Cells
SN - 1066-5099
IS - 7
ER -