Netrin-1 facilitates somatic cell reprogramming by limiting Dcc pro-apoptotic activity

The generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells holds great promise in regenerative medicine. However, the relative flaws in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms promoting or limiting reprogramming still hinder the efficient generation of high quality iPS cells. Whereas modulation of the initial Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc (OSKM) cocktail with new transcription factors has been extensively documented, comparatively little is known about soluble molecules promoting the process, even if such recombinant factors could be highly valuable for therapeutic applications. In this study we developed a large-scale identification method to uncover novel programmed cell death (PCD)-related mechanisms limiting somatic cell reprogramming to pluripotency (SCRP). We identified Netrin-1 and its dependence receptor Dcc (Deleted in Colorectal Carcinoma), previously described for their respective survival/death functions both in normal and oncogenic contexts, as novel key SCRP modulators. We show that the early phase of SCRP is accompanied with a strong Netrin-1 deficiency, due to the improper epigenetic regulation of the Ntn1 promoter by OSKM. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that such Netrin-1 imbalance induces apoptosis mediated by the dependence receptor Dcc in a p53-independent manner. Correction of the Netrin-1/Dcc equilibrium by gain-of-ligand and loss-of-receptor experiments constrains apoptosis and improves reprogramming. As a consequence, we propose a novel iPS derivation protocol including a sequential treatment with recombinant Netrin1 that greatly facilitates the generation of mouse and human iPS cells. RNA-sequencing of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (passage 2 and passage 4), mouse pre-iPS cells (passage 5 and passage 25), 1 clone of control iPS (passage 5 and passage 25) and 2 independent clones of "Netrin-1 derived" iPS cells (passage 5 and passage 25). For this analysis, mouse iPS cell lines were grown in KSR+LIF media.