Inducible Lentivirus-Mediated Expression of the Oct4 Gene Affects Multilineage Differentiation of Adult Human Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

The octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) gene plays an important role in maintaining the undifferentiated state of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and reprogramming adult somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In the present study, we transduced human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) using tetracycline-on (Tet-On) lentiviruses carrying human Oct4 to examine the effects of regulated expression of human Oct4 on the proliferation and differentiation of hMSCs. hMSCs were efficiently transduced by Tet-On lentiviruses to express regulated levels of human Oct4 with doxycycline (Dox), as examined by immunofluorescent staining, flow cytometry, and quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) assays. Ectopic expression of Oct4 in transduced hMSCs increased the ability of colony formation. Continued expression of Oct4 further enhanced adipogenic differentiation of hMSCs, and transient expression of Oct4 sufficiently enhanced osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs. qRT-PCR analysis showed that ectopic expression of Oct4 in transduced hMSCs temporally increased the expression of Sox2 and c-Myc. Interestingly, ectopic expression of Oct4 reduced neuronal differentiation of hMSCs when incubated under neuronal differentiation conditions. Our results suggest that ectopic expression of human Oct4 leads to temporal changes in multilineage differentiation of hMSCs and may inhibit neuronal differentiation of hMSCs.