RNA-seq and ChIP-seq profiling of human iPSCs, derived NSCs and human fetal NSCs (ChIP-Seq)

Human iPSC-derived neural stem/progenitor cells (hiPSC-NSCs) are a promising source for cell/gene therapy approaches to target neurodegenerative and demyelinating disorders with unmet clinical needs. Despite the great effort in characterizing hiPSC-derived products in both in vitro and in vivo settings, we still lack a comprehensive study addressing hiPSC-NSC identity and safety at genome-wide level, an issue of paramount importance to establish accepted criteria for prospective clinical applications. Here, we evaluated the transcriptional (by poly-A+ RNA-seq) and epigenetic (by H3K27Ac ChIP-seq) signatures in hiPSCs and differentiated hiPSC-NSC progeny, keeping as reference a somatic clinically relevant human fetal NSC (hfNSCs) line. Overall, our comprehensive transcriptomic and epigenomic analysis coupled to a long-term functional in vivo characterization provided insight into the cell identity, safety profile, and therapeutic potential of hiPSC-NSCs, supporting the rationale for the continuous development of hiPSC-NSCs as an alternative source to somatic hfNSCs for treatment of neurodegenerative and demyelinating disorders.