Comparative characterization of human fetal neural stem cells and induced neural stem cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Human-induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) transplantation is a potential treatment of neurodegeneration diseases. However, whether the reprogrammed cells have the same characterizations as human fetal neural stem cells needs further exploration. Here we isolated human fetal neural stem cells from aborted 12-week fetal brains and compared with iNSCs reprogrammed from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in gene expression, proliferation ability, differentiation capacity, and the responses to tumor necrosis factor-alpha. We found that iNSCs and NSCs both expressed neural stem cell markers Nestin, SOX1, and SOX2. However, only iNSCs can be patterned into dopaminergic neurons and motor neurons. Furthermore, both iNSCs and NSCs can differentiate into oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. In addition, a low dose of tumor necrosis factor-a did not inhibit the proliferation and differentiation of iNSCs and NSCs. In conclusion, iNSCs have properties similar to, and even better than, fetal neural stem cells and may be suitable for disease modeling and transplantation.