Differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells into parathyroid cells by editing the PTH gene with the CRISPR/Cas9 system

Abstract

With CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) were directionally induced to differentiate into parathyroid cells. The study provides the theoretical and experimental basis for the application of HUMSCs in the clinical treatment of parathyroid hypofunction. In this study the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology was used to introduce the PTH gene into HUMSCs to induce the differentiation of HUMSCs. After 28 days of induction culture, HUMSCs edited by CRISPR/Cas9 showed morphological changes. PTH expression was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), western blotting and immunohistochemistry, the expression level of PTH in parathyroid adenoid cells obtained after CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing was significantly increased. The expression levels of CASR, GCM2 and PTH were 98.9%, 93.6% and 97%, respectively. This experiment verified that editing the PTH gene with the CRISPR/Cas9 system could directionally induce human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into parathyroid cells.