Sox2 expression marks gastric stem and progenitor cells, raising important questions regarding the genes regulated by Sox2 and the role of Sox2 itself during stomach homeostasis and disease. By using ChIP-seq analysis, we have found that the majority of Sox2 targets in gastric epithelial cells are tissue specific and related to functions such as endoderm development, Wnt signaling, and gastric cancer. Unexpectedly, we found that Sox2 itself is dispensable for gastric stem cell and epithelial self-renewal, yet Sox(2+) cells are highly susceptible to tumorigenesis in an Apc/Wnt-driven mouse model. Moreover, Sox2 loss enhances, rather than impairs, tumor formation in Apc-deficient gastric cells in vivo and in vitro by inducing Tcf/Lef-dependent transcription and upregulating intestinal metaplasia-associated genes, providing a mechanistic basis for the observed phenotype. Together, these data identify Sox2 as a context-dependent tumor suppressor protein that is dispensable for normal tissue regeneration but restrains stomach adenoma formation through modulation of Wnt-responsive and intestinal genes.

The prevalence of hearing loss after damage to the mammalian cochlea has been thought to be due to a lack of spontaneous regeneration of hair cells, the primary receptor cells for sound. Here, we show that supporting cells, which surround hair cells in the normal cochlear epithelium, differentiate into new hair cells in the neonatal mouse following ototoxic damage. Using lineage tracing, we show that new hair cells, predominantly outer hair cells, arise from Lgr5-expressing inner pillar and third Deiters cells and that new hair cell generation is increased by pharmacological inhibition of Notch. These data suggest that the neonatal mammalian cochlea has some capacity for hair cell regeneration following damage alone and that Lgr5-positive cells act as hair cell progenitors in the cochlea.

Tooth renewal is initiated from epithelium associated with existing teeth. The development of new teeth requires dental epithelial cells that have competence for tooth formation, but specific marker genes for these cells have not been identified. Here, we analyzed expression patterns of the transcription factor Sox2 in two different modes of successional tooth formation: tooth replacement and serial addition of primary teeth. We observed specific Sox2 expression in the dental lamina that gives rise to successional teeth in mammals with one round of tooth replacement as well as in reptiles with continuous tooth replacement. Sox2 was also expressed in the dental lamina during serial addition of mammalian molars, and genetic lineage tracing indicated that Sox2+ cells of the first molar give rise to the epithelial cell lineages of the second and third molars. Moreover, conditional deletion of Sox2 resulted in hyperplastic epithelium in the forming posterior molars. Our results indicate that the Sox2+ dental epithelium has competence for successional tooth formation and that Sox2 regulates the progenitor state of dental epithelial cells. The findings imply that the function of Sox2 has been conserved during evolution and that tooth replacement and serial addition of primary teeth represent variations of the same developmental process. The expression patterns of Sox2 support the hypothesis that dormant capacity for continuous tooth renewal exists in mammals.

The transcription factor Sox2 maintains the pluripotency of early embryonic cells and regulates the formation of several epithelia during fetal development. Whether Sox2 continues to play a role in adult tissues remains largely unknown. We show here that Sox2 marks adult cells in several epithelial tissues where its expression has not previously been characterized, including the stomach, cervix, anus, testes, lens, and multiple glands. Genetic lineage tracing and transplantation experiments demonstrate that Sox2-expressing cells continuously give rise to mature cell types within these tissues, documenting their self-renewal and differentiation potentials. Consistent with these findings, ablation of Sox2(+) cells in mice results in a disruption of epithelial tissue homeostasis and lethality. Developmental fate mapping reveals that Sox2(+) adult stem cells originate from fetal Sox2(+) tissue progenitors. Thus, our results identify Sox2 expression in numerous adult endodermal and ectodermal stem cell compartments, which are critical for normal tissue regeneration and survival.

Expression of the transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc in mesodermal and endodermal derivatives, including fibroblasts, lymphocytes, liver, stomach, and beta cells, generates induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. It remains unknown, however, whether cell types of the ectodermal lineage are equally amenable to reprogramming into iPS cells by the same combination of factors. To test this, we have isolated genetically marked neural progenitor cells (NPCs) from neonatal mouse brains and infected them with viral vectors expressing Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. Infected NPCs gave rise to iPS cells that expressed markers of embryonic stem cells, showed demethylation of pluripotency genes, formed teratomas, and contributed to viable chimeras. In contrast to other somatic cell types, NPCs expressed high levels of endogenous Sox2 and thus did not require viral Sox2 expression for reprogramming into iPS cells. Our data show that in addition to mesoderm- and endoderm-derived cell types, neural progenitor cells of the ectodermal lineage can be reprogrammed into iPS cells, suggesting that in vitro reprogramming is a universal process. These results also imply that the combination of factors necessary for reprogramming is dependent on cellular context. STEM CELLS 2008; 26: 2467-2474

Ectopic expression of the four transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4 is sufficient to confer a pluripotent state upon the fibroblast genome, generating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. It remains unknown if nuclear reprogramming induced by these four factors globally resets epigenetic differences between differentiated and pluripotent cells. Here, using novel selection approaches, we have generated iPS cells from fibroblasts to characterize their epigenetic state. Female iPS cells showed reactivation of a somatically silenced X chromosome and underwent random X inactivation upon differentiation. Genome-wide analysis of two key histone modifications indicated that iPS cells are highly similar to ES cells. Consistent with these observations, iPS cells gave rise to viable high-degree chimeras with contribution to the germline. These data show that transcription factor-induced reprogramming leads to the global reversion of the somatic epigenome into an ES-like state. Our results provide a paradigm for studying the epigenetic modifications that accompany nuclear reprogramming and suggest that abnormal epigenetic reprogramming does not pose a problem for the potential therapeutic applications of iPS cells.

Mounting evidence implicates BRCA2 not only in maintenance of genome integrity but also in cell-cycle checkpoints. However, the contribution of BRCA2 in the checkpoints is still far from being understood. Here, we demonstrate that breast cancer cells MX-1 are unable to maintain genome integrity, which results in gross polyploidization. We generated MX-1 clones, stably expressing BRCA2, and found that BRCA2 acts to suppress polyploidy. Compared with MX-1, the ectopically BRCA2-expressing cells had different intracellular levels of Aurora A, Aurora B, p21, E2F-1, and pRb, suggesting a BRCA2-mediated suppression of polyploidy via stabilization of the checkpoint proteins levels.

The BRCA2 protein is involved in the maintenance of genomic stability through its key role in homologous recombination repair of DNA double strand breaks. Biallelic inactivation of BRCA2 leads to a defect in DNA repair and is associated with a chromosomal instability phenotype. Recent studies on familial breast cancer clusters revealed chromosomal rearrangements and higher rates of sister chromatid exchanges also in heterozygous BRCA2 mutation carriers. In the present study, lymphoblastoid cell lines of heterozygous BRCA2 mutation carriers and of wildtype relatives were compared with regard to BRCA2 mRNA and protein expression and capacity to repair DNA damage induced by γ-irradiation and mitomycin C. BRCA2+/− cells showed lower amounts of the full-length BRCA2 protein compared to BRCA2+/+ cells. The kinetics of γ-H2AX protein level revealed distinct defects in DNA double strand break repair in the BRCA2+/− cells. These results are indicative of a haploinsufficiency phenotype in BRCA2+/− cells, suggesting that reduced amounts of functional BRCA2 protein in BRCA2+/− carriers are insufficient for an efficient repair of DNA double strand breaks, a condition that could contribute to the impairment of genomic stability.

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