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Embryoid body formation of human amniotic fluid stem cells depends on mTOR

Oncogene volume 29, pages 966–977 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Human amniotic fluid stem cells (hAFSCs) harbor high proliferative capacity and high differentiation potential and do not raise the ethical concerns associated with human embryonic stem cells. The formation of three-dimensional aggregates known as embryoid bodies (EBs) is the principal step in the differentiation of pluripotent embryonic stem cells. Using c-Kit-positive hAFSC lines, we show here that these stem cells harbor the potential to form EBs. As part of the two kinase complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is the key component of an important signaling pathway, which is involved in the regulation of cell proliferation, growth, tumor development and differentiation. Blocking intracellular mTOR activity through the inhibitor rapamycin or through specific small interfering RNA approaches revealed hAFSC EB formation to depend on mTORC1 and mTORC2. These findings demonstrate hAFSCs to be a new and powerful biological system to recapitulate the three-dimensional and tissue level contexts of in vivo development and identify the mTOR pathway to be essential for this process.

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Acknowledgements

Research in our laboratory is supported by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (P18894-B12), by the Herzfelder'sche Familienstiftung and by the Research Training Network ‘Developing a stem cell based therapy to replace nephrons lost through reflux nephropathy’ (http://www.kidstem.org) funded by the European Community as part of the Framework program 6 (FP6 036097–2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    A Valli, M Rosner, C Fuchs, N Siegel, H Dolznig & M Hengstschläger

  2. Department of Urology and Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    C E Bishop & A Atala

  3. Wunschbabyzentrum, Lainzer Straße 6, Vienna, Austria

    U Mädel & W Feichtinger

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  1. A Valli
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Correspondence to M Hengstschläger.

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Valli, A., Rosner, M., Fuchs, C. et al. Embryoid body formation of human amniotic fluid stem cells depends on mTOR. Oncogene 29, 966–977 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2009.405

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