Hemangioblast skewing from embryonic stem(ES) cells by defined factors

Successful derivation of a specific cell lineage from pluripotent stem cells will tremendously facilitate the clinical usage of pluripotent stem derived somatic cells. Herein, we demonstrate that ER71/Etv2, GATA2 and Scl form a core network in hemangioblast development and that transient co-expression of these three factors robustly induced hemangioblasts from ES cells. Such induced hemangioblasts potently generated hematopoietic and endothelial cells in culture as well as in vivo, warranting the evaluation of these cells in the future for repairing and/or regenerating hematopoietic and/or angiogenic defects. We have established a doxycycline inducible ES cell, iEGS, in which ER71/Etv2, GATA2 three transcription factors can be transiently co-expressed by doxycycline induction. We further analyzed the downstream target genes and signaling pathways at 6, 12 and 24hrs after ER71/Etv2, GATA2 induction. These data were obtained from three independent experiments.