The mechanisms involved in the reprogramming of differentiated cells into induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells by Oct4, Klf4 and Sox2 (3F) remain poorly understood 1 . The Ink4/Arf tumour suppressor locus encodes three potent inhibitors of proliferation, namely p16 Ink4a , p15 Ink4b and Arf, which are basally expressed in differentiated cells and upregulated by aberrant mitogenic signals 2-4 . We show here that the locus is completely silenced in iPS cells, as well as in embryonic stem (ES) cells, acquiring the epigenetic marks of a bivalent chromatin domain, and retaining the ability to be reactivated upon differentiation. Cell culture conditions during reprogramming enhance the expression of the Ink4/Arf locus, further highlighting the importance of silencing the locus to allow proliferation and reprogramming. Indeed, the 3F together repress the Ink4/Arf locus soon after their expression and concomitant with the appearance of the first molecular markers of stemness. This downregulation also occurs in cells carrying the oncoprotein large-T, which functionally inactivates the pathways regulated by the Ink4/Arf locus, thus implying that the silencing of the locus is intrinsic to reprogramming and not the result of a selective process. Genetic inhibition of the Ink4/Arf locus has a profound positive impact on the efficiency of iPS generation, increasing both the kinetics of reprogramming and the number of emerging iPS colonies. In murine cells, Arf, rather than Ink4a, is the main barrier to reprogramming through activation of p53 and p21; whereas, in human fibroblasts, INK4a is more important than ARF. Finally, organismal aging upregulates the Ink4/Arf locus 2,5 and, accordingly, reprogramming is less efficient in cells from old organisms, but this defect can be rescued by inhibiting the locus with an shRNA. All together, we conclude that the silencing of Ink4/Arf locus is rate limiting for reprogramming, and its transient inhibition may significantly improve the generation of iPS.The Ink4/Arf tumour suppressor locus encodes three important tumour suppressors that activate two critical anti-proliferative pathways, namely, the Rb and p53 pathways, whose activation prevents the propagation of aberrant cells, either by apoptosis or senescence (see scheme in Supplementary Fig. S1) 4 . Briefly, the paralogs p16 Ink4a and p15 Ink4b bind and inhibit the cyclin D-dependent kinases Cdk4 and Cdk6, which in turn are important to relieve the cell-cycle inhibitory activity of the Rb tumour suppressor. On the other hand, Arf

The ability of extracellular vesicles (EVs) to regulate a broad range of cellular processes has recently been exploited for the treatment of diseases. For example, EVs secreted by stem cells injected into infarcted hearts can induce recovery through the delivery of stem-cell-specific miRNAs. However, the retention of the EVs and the therapeutic effects are short-lived. Here, we show that an engineered hydrogel patch capable of slowly releasing EVs secreted from cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells reduced arrhythmic burden, promoted ejection-fraction recovery, decreased cardiomyocyte apoptosis 24 hours after infarction, and reduced infarct size and cell hypertrophy 4 weeks post-infarction when implanted onto infarcted rat hearts. We also show that the EVs are enriched with cardiac-specific miRNAs known to modulate cardiomyocyte-specific processes. The extended delivery of EVs secreted from iPS-cell-derived cardiomyocytes into the heart may help understand heart recovery and treat heart injury.

Activated B cells reshape their primary antibody repertoire after antigen encounter by two molecular mechanisms: somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR). SHM and CSR are initiated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) through the deamination of cytosine residues on the immunoglobulin loci, which leads to the generation of DNA mutations or double-strand break intermediates. As a bystander effect, endogenous AID levels can also promote the generation of chromosome translocations, suggesting that the fi ne tuning of AID expression may be critical to restrict B cell lymphomagenesis. To determine whether microRNAs (miRNAs) play a role in the regulation of AID expression, we performed a functional screening of an miRNA library and identifi ed miRNAs that regulate CSR. One such miRNA, miR-181b, impairs CSR when expressed in activated B cells, and results in the down-regulation of AID mRNA and protein levels. We found that the AID 3 untranslated region contains multiple putative binding sequences for miR-181b and that these sequences can be directly targeted by miR-181b. Overall, our results provide evidence for a new regulatory mechanism that restricts AID activity and can therefore be relevant to prevent B cell malignant transformation.

SummaryThe mechanisms responsible for the transcriptional silencing of pluripotency genes in differentiated cells are poorly understood. We have observed that cells lacking the tumor suppressor p27 can be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in the absence of ectopic Sox2. Interestingly, cells and tissues from p27 null mice, including brain, lung, and retina, present an elevated basal expression of Sox2, suggesting that p27 contributes to the repression of Sox2. Furthermore, p27 null iPSCs fail to fully repress Sox2 upon differentiation. Mechanistically, we have found that upon differentiation p27 associates to the SRR2 enhancer of the Sox2 gene together with a p130-E2F4-SIN3A repressive complex. Finally, Sox2 haploinsufficiency genetically rescues some of the phenotypes characteristic of p27 null mice, including gigantism, pituitary hyperplasia, pituitary tumors, and retinal defects. Collectively, these results demonstrate an unprecedented connection between p27 and Sox2 relevant for reprogramming and cancer and for understanding human pathologies associated with p27 germline mutations.