Nature：成人睾丸干细胞可诱导为多能细胞

虽然成人睾丸细胞仅限于在正常发育过程中产生生殖细胞，但来自几个方面的证据都表明，它们在适当条件下可成为多能细胞。现在，这些条件已被发现。从来自成人睾丸的未成熟人精子细胞开始，Conrad等人确定了可像人胚胎干细胞一样被操纵和分化的细胞系。这些细胞可被稳定地分化成为分泌胰岛素的细胞或肌性细胞系、成骨细胞系和与神经细胞相似的细胞系。当在皮下移植时，这些细胞会在小鼠身上形成畸胎瘤，这是它们具有多能性的进一步证据，也反映了这些细胞在再生治疗中所具有的潜力。

Nature 456, 344-349 (20 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07404

Generation of pluripotent stem cells from adult human testis

Sabine Conrad1, Markus Renninger3, J?rg Hennenlotter3, Tina Wiesner1, Lothar Just1, Michael Bonin4, Wilhelm Aicher5,6, Hans-J?rg Bühring7, Ulrich Mattheus2, Andreas Mack2, Hans-Joachim Wagner2, Stephen Minger8, Matthias Matzkies9, Michael Reppel9, Jürgen Hescheler9, Karl-Dietrich Sievert3, Arnulf Stenzl3 & Thomas Skutella1,6

1 Institute of Anatomy, Department of Experimental Embryology,
2 Institute of Anatomy, Department of Cellular Neurobiology, ?sterbergstrae 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
3 Department of Urology, University Clinic Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Strae 3, Tübingen 72076, Germany
4 Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Microarray Facility, University Clinic, Calwerstrae 7, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
5 ZMF Research Laboratories, University Clinic Tübingen, Waldh?rnlestrae 22, 72072 Tübingen, Germany
6 Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine (ZRM), Paul-Ehrlich-Strae 15, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
7 Department of Internal Medicine II, University Clinic Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Strae 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
8 Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, King's College, London SE1 1UL, UK
9 Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Cologne, Robert-Koch-Strae 39, 50931 Cologne, Germany

Abstract

Human primordial germ cells and mouse neonatal and adult germline stem cells are pluripotent and show similar properties to embryonic stem cells. Here we report the successful establishment of human adult germline stem cells derived from spermatogonial cells of adult human testis. Cellular and molecular characterization of these cells revealed many similarities to human embryonic stem cells, and the germline stem cells produced teratomas after transplantation into immunodeficient mice. The human adult germline stem cells differentiated into various types of somatic cells of all three germ layers when grown under conditions used to induce the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. We conclude that the generation of human adult germline stem cells from testicular biopsies may provide simple and non-controversial access to individual cell-based therapy without the ethical and immunological problems associated with human embryonic stem cells.