Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells support the derivation and propagation of human induced pluripotent stem cells in culture.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) need to be generated and expanded under clinically applicable culture conditions before they can be used for clinical application. In this study, we demonstrate that inactivated human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) from different donors can be used as feeder cells to support the establishment and maintenance of hiPSCs. The hiPSCs we generated and expanded on hMSCs exhibited the typical morphology of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), expressed undifferentiated pluripotent cell markers and genes, differentiated into all three germ layers via embryoid body and teratoma formation, and retained a normal chromosomal karyotype after 14 passages. However, we found that the rate of hiPSCs generation on hMSCs was 7.26% +/- 2.09% compared with that on mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), and the calculated expansion efficiency of hiPSCs on hMSCs was lower than that on MEFs. hMSCs from various donors and different passages did not influence the results. These findings suggest that hMSCs can be used as feeder cells to derive and maintain hiPSCs, and thus provide another clinically feasible method for generating and expanding hiPSCs. However, the cytokines and adhesion molecules in this system should be identified to develop a preferable clinical culture condition for hiPSCs.