Effects of Oct4 depletion on BM-related gene expression during the initial stages of post-implantation amniotic sac embryoid (PASE) development.

Basement membranes (BMs) are sheet-like structures of specialized extracellular matrix (ECM), which provide structural support for many tissues and play a central role in signalling. They are key regulators of cell behavior and tissue functions and defects in their assembly or composition are involved in numerous human diseases. Due to the differences between human and animal embryogenesis, ethical concerns, legal constraints, the scarcity of human tissue material and the inaccessibility of the in vivo condition, BM regulation during human embryo development remained elusive. Making use of a recently established embryoid allowed us to draw a picture of BM assembly during human embryogenesis and to examine BM disintegration during primitive streak (PS) cell dissemination. Further, we show that the transcription factor Oct4 regulates the expression of BM structural components and receptors and controls BM development during embryogenesis by regulating Akt signalling and the small GTPase Rac1. These results represent a relevant step towards a more comprehensive understanding of early human development. The deposited RNA-seq data aimed at evaluating the effects of siRNA-mediated depletion of the master transcription factor Oct4 on BM-related gene expression during initial stages of embryoid formation.