Lymphoid Lineage 78 T Cells Were Successfully Generated from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells via Hemogenic Endothelium

78 T cells are a rare and unique prototype of T cells that share properties with natural killer cells in secondary lymphoid organs. Although many studies have revealed the function and importance of adult-derived 78 T cells in cancer biology and regenerative medicine, the low numbers of these cells hamper their application as therapeutic cell sources in the clinic. To solve this problem, pluripotent stem cell-derived 78 T cells are considered alternative cell sources; however, few studies have reported the generation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived 78 T cells. In the present study, we investigated whether lymphoid lineage 78 T cells were successfully generated from human pluripotent stem cells via hemogenic endothelium under defined culture conditions. Our results revealed that pluripotent stem cells successfully generated 78 T cells with an overall increase in transcriptional activity of lymphoid lineage genes and cytolytic factors, indicating the importance of the optimization of culture conditions in generating lymphoid lineage 78 T cells. We uncovered an initial step in differentiating 78 T cells that could be applied to basic and translational investigations in the field of cancer biology. Based on our result, we will develop an appropriate method to purify 78 T cells with functionality and it helpful for the study of basic mechanism of 78 T cells in pathophysiologic condition as well as clinic application.