日本一个研究小组日前报告说，他们发现了在脑神经形成过程中发挥决定性作用的基因，这一发现将有助于提高再生医疗的安全性和效果。
利用胚胎干细胞和诱导多能干细胞（iPS细胞）等培育脑神经细胞以用于再生医疗移植时，往往还会形成其他细胞，因此需要把生成的神经细胞和其他细胞区分开来。为解决上述问题，研究人员一直希望弄清脑神经细胞的形成机制。
日本理化学研究所的一个研究小组在新一期英国《自然》杂志网络版上报告说，他们在利用小鼠的胚胎干细胞培育脑神经细胞时发现，在即将分化为脑神经前驱的细胞中，有一种称为ZfP521的基因非常活跃。研究人员抑制这种基因功能后发现，小鼠的胚胎干细胞无法再分化为脑神经细胞。研究人员确认，正是这种基因合成的蛋白质发出了形成脑神经细胞的指令。
研究人员在利用人类胚胎干细胞进行实验时，也获得了相同结果。他们表示，这项发现将有助于提高再生医疗的安全性和效果。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09726
Intrinsic transition of embryonic stem-cell differentiation into neural progenitors
Daisuke Kamiya,1, 2 Satoe Banno,1 Noriaki Sasai,1 Masatoshi Ohgushi,1 Hidehiko Inomata,1 Kiichi Watanabe,1 Masako Kawada,1 Rieko Yakura,1 Hiroshi Kiyonari,3 Kazuki Nakao,3 Lars Martin Jakt,4 Shin-ichi Nishikawa4 & Yoshiki Sasai1, 2
The neural fate is generally considered to be the intrinsic direction of embryonic stem (ES) cell differentiation. However, little is known about the intracellular mechanism that leads undifferentiated cells to adopt the neural fate in the absence of extrinsic inductive signals. Here we show that the zinc-finger nuclear protein Zfp521 is essential and sufficient for driving the intrinsic neural differentiation of mouse ES cells. In the absence of the neural differentiation inhibitor BMP4, strong Zfp521 expression is intrinsically induced in differentiating ES cells. Forced expression of Zfp521 enables the neural conversion of ES cells even in the presence of BMP4. Conversely, in differentiation culture, Zfp521-depleted ES cells do not undergo neural conversion but tend to halt at the epiblast state. Zfp521 directly activates early neural genes by working with the co-activator p300. Thus, the transition of ES cell differentiation from the epiblast state into neuroectodermal progenitors specifically depends on the cell-intrinsic expression and activator function of Zfp521.
