The Modeling of Werner Syndrome by Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Backgrounds: Werner syndrome (WS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by premature onset of several aging-associated diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and early death. The aging phenotypes of WS is resembling to those of normal aging. To uncover the mechanism of aging, we tried to model WS by patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). WS is caused by mutations in WRN gene belonging to the RecQ DNA helicase family which plays a role in genomic stability. But some of WS phenotypes are hardly explained by genomic instability. Thus, we aimed to model WS by patient-specific iPSCs to elucidate the mechanisms. Methods and Results: We sampled T lymphocytes from a patient with WS. Then we transduced with Yamanaka factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and MYC) by sendai virus, and iPSC colonies were derived. We confirmed that WS-iPSCs expressed pluripotent markers, could differentiate into all three germ-layer derived tissues, and retained a normal karyotype. We could culture ...